Olfactory sensitivity is influenced by intranasal trigeminal sensation. For instance, sniffing is central to how humans and animals perceive odorants. Here, we investigated the influence of olfactory costimulation on the perception of intranasal somatosensory stimulation. In this study, 22 healthy human subjects, with normal olfactory function, performed a localization task for stimulation using weak air puffs, a pure odorant, phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA; rose odor), or their combination. Visual cues were used to inform participants to briefly hold their breath while weak, poorly localizable, air puffs and/or PEA were delivered to either nostril. Although PEA alone could not be localized to the correct nostril, when it accompanied a weak air puff in the ipsilateral nostril, localization accuracy significantly improved, relative to presentation of the air puff without the odorant. The enhancement of localization was absent when the air puff and PEA were presented to opposite nostrils. Since ipsilateral but not contralateral costimulation with PEA increased the accuracy of weak air puff localization, the results argue against a non-specific alerting effect of PEA. These findings suggest an interaction between olfactory and intranasal somatosensory stimuli leading to their integration.

中文翻译：

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嗅觉共刺激影响鼻内体感知觉。

嗅觉敏感性受鼻内三叉神经感觉的影响。例如，嗅探是人类和动物如何感知气味的核心。在这里，我们调查了嗅觉共刺激对鼻内体感刺激感知的影响。在这项研究中，22 名嗅觉功能正常的健康人类受试者使用微弱的喷气、纯气味剂、苯乙醇（PEA；玫瑰气味）或它们的组合执行刺激的定位任务。视觉提示用于通知参与者在向任一鼻孔输送虚弱、难以定位、吹气和/或 PEA 时短暂屏住呼吸。虽然单独的PEA不能定位到正确的鼻孔，但是当它伴随着同侧鼻孔微弱的喷气时，定位精度显着提高，相对于没有气味的吹气的呈现。当吹气和 PEA 出现在相对的鼻孔时，定位的增强不存在。由于同侧而非对侧与 PEA 的共刺激提高了弱吹气定位的准确性，因此结果反对 PEA 的非特异性警报效应。这些发现表明嗅觉和鼻内体感刺激之间的相互作用导致它们的整合。