Association between olfactory mental imagery and smell abilities in individuals affected by COVID-19
Fri-P2-086
Presented by: Javier Albayay
Research on the ability to form olfactory images has received little attention as compared to other sensory domains. Olfactory mental imagery is represented along a continuum with experts (e.g., perfumers) and anosmic individuals presenting the strongest and weakest ability, respectively. The Vividness of Olfactory Imagery Questionnaire (VOIQ) is the most used tool to assess olfactory imagery ability. Following the idea that individuals with smell loss, a frequent and often long-term symptom associated with COVID-19, exhibit reduced olfactory imagery, we aimed to quantify and compare the olfactory imagery ability of individuals affected by COVID-19 (COVID+, n=98) and without COVID-19 (COVID-, n=66). Participants completed the VOIQ online where they had to mentally evoke four different situations of everyday life and think of four different odors in each one. They rated the vividness of the imagined odors on a 5-point scale; lower scores indicate higher olfactory imagery ability. Participants also completed the Smell-&-Taste-Check by the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, which included self-reports on smell, taste and chemesthetic abilities and direct intensity ratings of household items. The COVID+ group showed reduced olfactory imagery ability (p=0.034) as compared to the COVID- group, as well as reduced smell ability (p<0.001) and experienced intensity of odor items (p=0.012). As expected, VOIQ scores were negatively correlated with smell ability (r=-0.42, p<0.001) and experienced intensity ratings (r=-0.39, p<0.001). Conversely, smell ability and experienced intensity correlated positively (r=0.62, p<0.001); all associations were stronger in the COVID+ group. Our results suggest that olfactory mental imagery, as assessed via the VOIQ, could be an economic and fast means to screen for smell ability in individuals with acquired olfactory dysfunction due to COVID-19.
This work was funded by the University of Trento.
This work was funded by the University of Trento.