CN114689792B

CN114689792B - Human olfactory working memory test method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114689792B
Application number: CN202011584905.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 叶铮; 李澄宇; 李达; 徐碧蔓
Original assignee: Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences
Current assignee: Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences
Priority date: 2020-12-28
Filing date: 2020-12-28
Publication date: 2023-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-28
Also published as: CN114689792A

Abstract

The invention provides a human olfactory working memory test method and a device thereof, wherein the device comprises an odor supply system and a test system; the scent supply system includes: the control system, the air pump, the gas cylinder and the smell diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinder or the air pump; the test system includes: an operating assembly, a signal processing system. The invention also provides application of the device for testing the human olfactory working memory and a method for testing the human olfactory working memory.

Description

Human olfactory working memory test method and device

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of animal sensory testing, and in particular relates to a human olfactory working memory testing method and a device thereof.

Background

The human brain processes hundreds of millions of various information each day, including a wide variety of information from vision, hearing, smell, and the like. Much information remains only briefly in the brain, and when the brain finds important, interesting information, it will be saved in the brain for a longer period of time for later recall if needed. Therefore, the working memory of the human brain is worth research and exploration.

In human working memory, vision and hearing are being studied more deeply, and in some medical sites, more sophisticated assessment tools are available for qualitative and quantitative analysis. However, the working memories of human olfaction, taste and touch are neglected, and few studies are performed, and research means, research tools and qualitative and quantitative methods are still lacking in the art.

Some memory research devices exist at present, mainly for researching animals. For example, there are mouse training devices in the art that comprise a housing with a sidewall provided with an aperture in communication with the outside; the mouse body fixing device and the head fixing device are positioned in the box body, so that the mouse can be fixed and moved in a certain position; a ventilation tube inserted into the case for giving smell during training of the mice; the vent pipe is communicated with an air supply device positioned outside the box body; a water pipe inserted into the tank; the outer port of the box body of the water pipe is communicated with a water supply device positioned outside the box body; a movable water nozzle system positioned in the tank and communicated with the port in the tank of the water pipe. For behavioral characteristics of mice, their olfactory-based working memory behavioral training in mice can be divided into several steps including: the water is cut off, the water licking is trained, and the water licking is trained after two different odors, so that the robot can learn autonomously.

However, the mouse automated training device is limited in that it is only adapted to small laboratory animals such as mice, and is not suitable for humans. First, humans as visual animals are visually powerful, and olfactory ability is greatly different from animals such as mice, so humans require longer contact time and larger gas amount for odors in experimental paradigm design; odor from animals such as mice directly to humans causes subjective discomfort, so that a subjective and pleasant odor acceptable to humans needs to be chosen. Furthermore, odors suitable for use in olfactory tests need to have certain characteristics, while being acceptable, also need to be human-compatible in their resolution and not as familiar and classical odors to avoid creating background interference for working memory tests.

In view of the fact that the prior art has not disclosed an olfactory working memory test method conforming to the characteristics of a person, there is a need in the art to develop an olfactory working memory test method for a person and a device for cooperating with the method.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a human olfactory working memory test method and a device thereof.

In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a device for human olfactory working memory testing, the device comprising an scent supply system and a testing system; the scent supply system includes: the control system, the air pump, N gas cylinders and the smell diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinders or the air pump; the air pump outputs air to the air bottle or the odor diffusion cover; the gas cylinders are independently packaged with different odors; the control system starts or closes the output of the smell in the gas cylinder or the air of the air pump to the diffusion cover; the odor diffusion cover imparts odor or air to the subject; wherein N is a natural number of 3-30; the test system includes: an operating component which is operated by the subject (such as a key) to feed back the judgment of the smell; a signal processing system that performs information processing based on manipulation of the subject.

In a preferred embodiment, the test system further comprises: and the display screen is used for displaying the smell supply state and prompting the test requirement to the subject in real time.

In another preferred embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: the box body is of a non-closed structure; in the odor supply system, the control system, the air pump and the air bottle are positioned in the box body; the odor diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinder or the gas pump is positioned outside the box body.

In another preferred embodiment, one of the upper side, the front side and the left and right sides of the box body is in an open structure, and the other side of the left and right sides is closed, but is provided with a hole communicated with the outside.

In another preferred embodiment, the air pump supplies air to the air inlets of the air cylinders through independent pipelines respectively; preferably, the air pump outputs air to the N air cylinders, directly outputs air to the odor diffusion cover or outputs air to the outside through a 1-turn (n+2) joint.

In another preferred embodiment, the control system includes: control panel, valve; the valve is positioned on a vent pipe (smell vent pipe) between the air pump and the air bottle or on a vent pipe (air vent pipe) between the air pump and the smell diffusion cover; the control panel is in operative connection with the valve (e.g., via a circuit connection) to control the opening or closing of the valve; preferably, the valve is a two-way valve.

In another preferred embodiment, when the voltage between the control board and the valve is different, a voltage regulating device is further arranged between the control board and the valve. For example, when the control panel voltage is smaller than the valve, an amplifying board is arranged to amplify the voltage.

In another preferred embodiment, the air pump outputs air to the air cylinders, further to the odor diffusion cover, and the pipes are independent corresponding to each air cylinder.

In another preferred embodiment, the air pump outputs air to the odor diffusion cover independently.

In another preferred embodiment, the control board is connected with a computer system, and the programmed control and the information recording are realized through a computer program.

In another preferred embodiment, the gas cylinder includes a gas inlet and a gas outlet, the gas pump supplies gas to the gas inlet of the gas cylinder, and the gas outlet outputs smell to the smell diffusion cover through an independent pipeline.

In another preferred embodiment, the odor diffusion mask is a non-enclosed face mask that delivers odor or air to the olfactory organs (nostrils) of the subject, allowing the subject to properly contact the gas while facilitating gas diffusion; preferably the odour diffusion cover is a semi-open mask.

In another preferred embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a head fixation device for placing the head of the subject.

In another preferred embodiment, the odor diffusion cover is secured to the head fixture, the odor diffusion cover matching the olfactory organ of the subject after the subject has placed the head;

in another preferred embodiment, the test system further comprises a display screen, the head fixation device being positionally responsive to the display screen, an image of the display screen being viewable by the subject after the head is placed.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided the use of the device for human olfactory working memory testing for conducting a human olfactory working memory capacity test, for conducting a human odor sensitivity test, for conducting a brain cognitive state or brain region functional analysis associated with olfactory memory; or, an apparatus for performing an olfactory working memory capacity test, an odor sensitivity test, or a brain cognitive state or brain region functional analysis associated with olfactory memory in a human is prepared.

In a preferred embodiment, the human olfactory working memory test is a test that is not directed to diagnosing a disease; i.e. non-diagnostic applications.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for testing human olfactory working memory comprising: (1) Providing said means for human olfactory working memory testing; (2) And (3) performing human olfactory working memory test by using the device of the (1) to obtain a test result.

In a preferred embodiment, the method of (2) comprises: the subject wears the odor diffusion cover, and the following steps are performed by using the control system: encoding: (a) Closing the air output of the air pump, opening the output of smell in any air cylinder to the diffusion cover, and (b) closing the air cylinder and opening the output of air of the air pump to the diffusion cover; changing the opened gas cylinder, repeating the steps (a) - (b), and presenting various odors to the subject; wherein repeating steps (a) - (b) until the last time (b) is also referred to as a "delay phase" (the phase does not release odors); and (3) an identification stage: and starting the output of the smell in any gas cylinder to the diffusion cover, requesting the test person to judge the smell, controlling the operation assembly to feed back the result, and processing information through the signal processing system.

In another preferred embodiment, the steps (a) - (b) are repeated 1-9 times (e.g., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 times) during the encoding phase, such that 2-10 (e.g., 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) odors are presented to the subject during the phase.

In another preferable example, in (a), the output time of the smell in any one of the gas cylinders to the diffusion cover is 2-15 seconds; preferably 3 to 10 seconds (more preferably 3 to 8 seconds, such as 4, 5, 6, 7 seconds).

In another preferred embodiment, in (b), the output time of the air pump to the diffusion cover is 1 to 6 seconds; preferably 1.5 to 8 seconds (more preferably 1.5 to 6 seconds, such as 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds).

In another preferred example, in the identification stage, the output time of the smell in any one of the gas cylinders to the diffusion cover is 3-12 seconds; preferably 3.5 to 9 seconds (more preferably 4 to 8 seconds, such as 5, 6, 7 seconds).

In another preferred example, the flux of the odor or the air is 1.5-3L/min of the ventilation of the air outlet.

In another preferred embodiment, the subject gives a "yes" or "no" judgment by judging whether the smell output in this stage has appeared in the encoding stage, and manipulates the operation member to feed back the result.

In another preferred example, the signal processing system judges whether the subject is accurate or not according to the actual smell of the gas cylinder, if the smell which appears is accurately recognized as "hit", if the smell which does not appear is erroneously judged as "false alarm", the number of kinds of smell which appears in the encoding stage is used as "memory load", and the working memory capacity (K) is calculated:

Working memory capacity= (hit rate-false alarm rate) x memory load.

In another preferred embodiment, the analysis of the "encoding stage-recognition stage" is repeated 2 to 30 times (preferably 3 to 20 times, such as 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 times), and the average value of the working memory capacity is counted.

In another preferred embodiment, after completing a calculation of the working memory capacity, further comprising performing a next step of analysis, incrementing the number of odor species presented to the subject, performing the working memory capacity; preferably, 1 to 2 odors are incremented.

In another preferred embodiment, the odor comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of: the following examples include, but are not limited to, dori rice odor, jasmonate odor, cyclohexaenone odor, isobutyl quinoline odor, vanillin isobutyrate odor, cyclopropyl anisole odor, fresh menthone odor, gingerol odor, kefir odor, linalyl formate and ambroxol odor, lemon odor, melon odor, marine odor, chocolate odor, blueberry odor, lavender odor, rose odor, osmanthus fragrans odor, gardenia odor, juicy peach odor; preferably, the odor comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of: the odor of dolichos, the odor of jasmonates, the odor of cyclohexanones, the odor of isobutylquinolines, the odor of vanillin isobutyrates, the odor of cyclopropylanisole, the odor of fresh menthone, the odor of gingerol, the odor of kaffiti, linalyl formate and ambroxol.

In another preferred embodiment, the method further comprises: the method comprises the steps that a subject watches a display screen during testing, and the display screen displays the odor supply state and prompts the test requirement in real time; preferably, the display displays image 1 when the encoding stage presents a scent; the delay stage displays image 2 and the recognition stage displays image 3 when the scent is present.

In another preferred embodiment, each increment is 1, the odor presented to the subject is incremented by 1, e.g., 3 (load 3), 4 (load 4), 5 (load 5) in sequence.

In another preferred embodiment, each increment is 1, the odor presented to the subject is incremented by 1, e.g., 3 (load 3), 4 (load 4), 5 (load 5), 6 (load 6), or further incremented in sequence.

In another preferred embodiment, each increment is 1, the odor presented to the subject is incremented by 2, e.g., 2 (load 2), 4 (load 4), 6 (load 6), or further incremented in sequence.

In another preferred embodiment, image 1, image 2 and image 3 are significantly different images, e.g. differently shaped, differently colored or dynamically different.

Other aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the disclosure herein.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an olfactory working memory test device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the control system in the case of the olfactory working memory test device and the connection of the control system and a valve (two-way valve).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the control and gas regulation of an olfactory working memory test device according to the present invention; in the figure, the thick line represents the sum of the individual pipelines/circuits.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a single test of working memory determination for odor testing using the device of the present invention; wherein, the load 3 indicates that the number of the tested odors is 3; the definition of other "loads" and so on.

Fig. 5, olfactory working memory capacity curves of subjects 1 to 3.

Fig. 6, olfactory working memory capacity curves of subjects 4 to 5.

Fig. 7, olfactory working memory capacity curves for subject 6.

Test accuracy curves for the 21 subjects of fig. 8.

In fig. 1 to 3, the respective reference numerals are explained as follows:

1. a case;

2. a gas cylinder;

3. a head fixing device;

4. an air pump; 41. odor vent pipe; 42. an air vent; 43. a shunt joint; 44. a voltage dividing tube;

5. a control system; 51. a control board; 52. an amplifying plate; 53. a valve (two-way valve);

6. An odor diffusion cover;

7. controlling and displaying an operating system; 71. an operating assembly; 72. and a display screen.

Description of the embodiments

The inventor has conducted intensive studies to provide a device for human olfactory working memory test; the invention also provides application of the device for testing the human olfactory working memory and a method for testing the human olfactory working memory.

The invention provides a device for testing human olfactory working memory, which comprises an odor supply system and a testing system.

The scent supply system of the present invention includes: the control system, the air pump, N gas cylinders and the smell diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinders or the air pump; the air pump outputs air to the air bottle or the odor diffusion cover; the gas cylinders are independently packaged with different odors; the control system starts or closes the output of the smell in the gas cylinder or the air of the air pump to the diffusion cover; the odor diffusion cover imparts odor or air to the subject.

In the present invention, the air pump is not particularly limited as long as it can be adjusted to a state of delivering the air to the outside, gives a suitable amount of the air, and is capable of being operatively connected (operatively connected) with the ventilation duct. The air pump can be a commercial air pump or a self-designed air pump, and can enable the odor/air outlet of the odor diffusion cover to output a proper amount of air after the design and connection according to the invention are carried out, for example, the ventilation quantity of the air outlet is 1.5-3L/min.

As a preferable mode of the invention, the air pump supplies air to the air inlet of the air cylinder through independent pipelines respectively; preferably, the air pump outputs air to the N air cylinders through a 1-to-N (n+1) joint or directly outputs air to the odor diffusion cover.

As used herein, the "1-turn (n+1) joint" refers to a device that is connected to the air pump through one pipe, and has (n+1) pipes at the other end to split the gas output from the air pump.

In the present invention, the gas cylinder is not particularly limited, and for example, generally includes a cylinder body and a stopper, which are matched and sealable. The material of the body is not particularly limited and may be a permeable material, a semi-permeable material or an impermeable material; preferably a material of transparency is applied. The material of the bottle stopper is not particularly limited, but is preferably a material having a certain extensibility, such as cork, rubber, or a material containing cork or rubber, preferably with a gasket or a seal ring, in order to achieve a good seal with the body. Preferably, two air vents are arranged on the bottle plug, one air vent is connected with the air pump (serving as an air inlet), and the other air vent is connected with the odor diffusion cover. That is, the air pump supplies air to the air inlet of the air cylinder, and the air outlet outputs smell to the smell diffusion cover through an independent pipeline.

In the invention, the air output by the air pump is conveyed to the air cylinders, and further conveyed to the odor diffusion cover, and the pipelines are independent corresponding to each air cylinder. On the other hand, the pipeline from the air output by the air pump to the odor diffusion cover is independent. In this way, the odors or air can be accurately distinguished without intermixing or interference.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, the control system includes: control panel, valve; the valve is positioned on a vent pipe (smell vent pipe) between the air pump and the air bottle or on a vent pipe (air vent pipe) between the air pump and the smell diffusion cover; the control panel is in operative connection with the valve (e.g., via a circuit connection) to control the opening or closing of the valve; preferably, the valve is a two-way valve.

As a preferred mode of the invention, when the voltage between the control board and the valve is different, a voltage regulating device is arranged between the control board and the valve. For example, when the control panel voltage is smaller than the valve, an amplifying board is arranged to amplify the voltage.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, the control board is connected to a host computer system to perform programmed control and information recording. Specific programs or software can be arranged in the computer host system, so that the control panel is regularly controlled, and the valve is further controlled.

However, it should be understood that such voltage regulating means need not be applied if the voltage between the control board and the valve is matched.

The test system of the invention comprises: an operating component that is manipulated by the subject to feedback his judgment of the scent; a signal processing system that performs information processing based on manipulation of the subject. As a preferred mode of the present invention, the test system further includes: and the display screen is used for displaying the smell supply state and prompting the test requirement to the subject in real time.

The operating component may be a simple device that is adapted to facilitate selection of the subject, for example, including only "yes" and "no" selections. Alternatively, the operating component may be a conventional computer typing keyboard, so as to be compatible with a conventional computer host. Alternatively, the operating assembly may be an operating rocker or the like.

The signal processing system can be a signal processing system existing in or installed in a computer host.

In a preferred form of the invention, the apparatus further comprises: a head fixation device for placing the head of the subject; preferably, the odor diffusion cover is secured to the head fixture, the odor diffusion cover matching the olfactory organ of the subject after the subject has placed the head. The head restraint is not particularly limited so long as a supportable cradle is provided to the subject for stable acceptance of the test of the present invention.

In a preferred form of the invention, the head fixation device corresponds in position to the display screen, and an image of the display screen is viewable by the subject after the head is placed.

In a preferred form of the invention, the apparatus further comprises: the box body is of a non-closed structure; in the odor supply system, the control system, an air pump and an air bottle are arranged in a box body; the odor diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinder or the gas pump is positioned outside the box body. Correspondingly, the pipeline system for communicating the gas cylinder with the odor diffusion cover penetrates through the box body, and is partially positioned in the box body and partially positioned outside the box body. For example, it is preferable that: one of the upper side, the front side and the left side and the right side of the box body is of an open structure, and the other side of the left side and the right side is closed, but is provided with a hole communicated with the outside. However, it should be understood that, according to practical situations (e.g. the practical conditions required by the use location and matching the location), the case may be considered to be provided in an open type, a closed panel semi-open type, and although the present invention provides a preferred arrangement mode, the overall technical solution is not limited thereto.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, the odor diffusion mask is a non-closed mask that delivers odor or air to the olfactory organs (nostrils) of the subject, allows the subject to be in proper contact with the gas, and is easy for gas diffusion; preferably the odour diffusion cover is a semi-open mask. Firstly, the gas outlet is connected with the mask, so that the gas is intensively released near the nostrils of the subject, the contact between the subject and the gas is increased, and the smell is conveniently distinguished by the subject. Secondly, the mask is semi-open, rather than fully closed, so that gas can be conveniently diffused into the space, the residue of odor molecules on the mask is reduced, and the mixing of different odors near nostrils is avoided.

The invention also provides a human olfactory working memory test method, which comprises the following steps: the device for testing the human olfactory working memory is used for testing, and a test result is obtained. Preferably, during the test, the subject's head is located on the head fixation device with the olfactory organ wearing an odor diffusion cover.

As a preferred form of the invention, the method comprises an encoding stage (which may be an encoding stage without a delay stage), a delay stage and an identification stage.

The encoding stage provides the subject with more than one scent, and in order to reduce the effect of the last output scent on the last output scent, a single pure air release is provided between the two output scents, which is beneficial to remove scent molecules remaining on the tubing and mask. Thus, the encoding phase comprises: (a) Closing the air output of the air pump, opening the output of smell in any air cylinder to the diffusion cover, and (b) closing the air cylinder and opening the output of air of the air pump to the diffusion cover; and (3) changing the opened gas cylinder, repeating the steps (a) - (b), and presenting various odors to the subject. The delay phase does not release gas. In the identification stage, the odor in any gas cylinder is started to be output to the diffusion cover, a subject is required to judge the odor, the operation assembly is controlled to feed back the result, and the information processing is carried out through the signal processing system.

In the encoding stage, the steps (a) to (b) may be repeated 1 to 9 times, so that 2 to 10 odors are presented to the subject at this stage. After analyzing the olfactory characteristics of human beings, the inventor finds that the olfactory sensitivity of human beings is limited, except for some people with special abilities, the people with ordinary abilities should not be set to present excessive odors; thus, as a preferred mode of the present invention, the steps (a) - (b) are repeated 2-4 times, thereby presenting 3-5 odors (i.e., memory load of 3-5) to the subject at this stage. It should be appreciated that, for some populations with a relatively sensitive smell,

in the encoding stage, the output time of the odor in any gas cylinder to the diffusion cover can be 2-15 seconds; according to the analysis of the human olfactory characteristics by the inventor, as a preferable mode of the invention, the output time of the odor in any gas cylinder to the diffusion cover is 3-5 seconds; more preferably 4 seconds.

The output time of the air pump to the diffusion cover may be 1 to 6 seconds. As a preferred mode of the present invention, according to the analysis of the olfactory characteristics of human beings by the present inventors, the air output time of the air pump to the diffusion cover is 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, more preferably 2 seconds.

In the identification stage, the output time of the smell in any gas cylinder to the diffusion cover can be 3-12 seconds; according to the analysis of the human olfactory characteristics by the inventor, as a preferred mode of the invention, the output time of the odor in any one of the gas cylinders to the diffusion cover is 4-6 seconds, and more preferably 5 seconds.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, in the recognition phase, the subject gives a judgment of "yes" or "no" by judging whether the smell outputted in the phase appears in the encoding phase, and manipulates the operation component to feed back the result.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, the signal processing system judges whether the subject is accurate or not according to the actual smell of the gas cylinder, if the smell which appears is accurately recognized as "hit", if the smell which does not appear is erroneously judged as "false alarm", the number of kinds of smell which appears in the encoding stage is used as "memory load", and the working memory capacity (K) is calculated.

Although the working memory capacity index K is used in the embodiments of the present invention to evaluate the working memory capacity of a subject at a particular memory load level, the calculation may also be performed in the manner of a correct rate (i.e., the ratio of responses correctly in multiple repeated tests) or throughput (throughput). The calculation formula of throughput is t= (accuracy-0.5)/0.5×memory load.

Each memory load can be tested repeatedly; for example, the test may be repeated 2 to 30 times, preferably 3 to 20 times. Depending on the particular person's smell, it is preferably not more than 20 times. For the general population, excessive repetition can cause the subject to develop a degree of olfactory and cognitive fatigue.

After obtaining a working memory capacity value via one round of analysis/testing of "encoding phase-delay phase-recognition phase", preferably the next round of analysis/testing is performed. The number of rounds of analysis may be 1-12, with 1 increment of 1 each, the odor presented to the subject being incremented by 1-2.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, various images may be displayed on the display screen, so that the subject can understand the procedure in which the test is performed, for example, distinguishing whether the smell is presented or not presented, or delaying the smell, or recognizing the smell. The subject may learn a certain amount of time at the test money to predict in advance the correspondence (correspondence) of the image on the display screen to the stage.

In the method according to the invention, a delay stage is preferably provided. By "memory" is meant that after the external stimuli (odors) have disappeared for a period of time, the human brain can still characterize and extract the characteristics of these stimuli. Thus, it is preferable to leave sufficient time between the presentation of the scent and the taking of the test to ensure that the test is "memory" rather than "sensory".

In the method of the present invention, the odors employed may be varied and may be commercial odors; or may be a tailored scent. The odors include, but are not limited to: the odor comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of: the flavor of the compositions may be selected from the group consisting of orecord odor, jasmonate odor, cyclohexaenone odor, isobutylquinoline odor, vanillin isobutyrate odor, cyclopropylanisole odor, fresh menthone odor, gingerol odor, kefir odor, linalyl formate and ambroxol odor, lemon odor, melon odor, marine odor, chocolate odor, blueberry odor, lavender odor, rose odor, osmanthus fragrans odor, gardenia odor, juicy peach odor.

As a preferred mode of the present invention, the odor comprises a component selected from the group consisting of: the odor of dolichos, the odor of jasmonates, the odor of cyclohexanones, the odor of isobutylquinolines, the odor of vanillin isobutyrates, the odor of cyclopropylanisole, the odor of fresh menthone, the odor of gingerol, the odor of kaffiti, linalyl formate and ambroxol. The inventors have found that these odors are particularly suitable for use in tests of human olfactory sensation, that their taste does not cause discomfort to humans, that they are easily accepted, and that they are not particularly classical or prominent odors that are easily remembered. Some particularly impressive or familiar odors tend to cause background interference, thereby affecting the accuracy of the test to some extent.

In the method of the present invention, the gas is outputted, administered to the subject, and the released odor is diffused into the air using the odor diffusion cover; the device adopts a semi-open type air outlet design; the gas outlet is connected with the semi-open odor diffusion cover, so that gas can be intensively released near the nostrils of the subject, the contact between the subject and the gas is increased, and the subject can conveniently distinguish odors; meanwhile, the semi-open design is convenient for gas to diffuse into the space, so that the residue of odor molecules on the mask is reduced, and the mixing of different odors near nostrils is avoided.

The inventors have found that the human smell is very sensitive to some animals such as mice, and therefore the ventilation provided at the air outlet should also be different from the animal. Therefore, as a preferable mode of the present invention, the ventilation amount at the air outlet is 1.5 to 3L/min.

The invention also provides application of the device and the method for testing the human olfactory working memory. The device and method of the present invention are designed primarily for human subjects and are suitable for use in humans.

The device and the method can be used for testing the human olfactory working memory capacity or further integrated with other auxiliary devices to prepare an instrument for testing the human olfactory working memory capacity.

The device and method of the present invention can be used to perform human odor sensitivity tests; or further integrated with other auxiliary devices to prepare an instrument for human odor sensitivity testing.

The device and the method of the invention can be applied to the detection of the human olfactory work memory capacity in psychology, namely, the quantitative evaluation of the ability of a person to memorize various odors in a period of several seconds to tens of seconds.

The apparatus and method of the present invention may be applied to a wide variety of tests that are not directed toward diagnosing a disease. For example, the device can be applied to olfactory characteristic tests and olfactory memory capability tests of people of different ages (including children, young people, middle-aged and elderly people), and the capability of the corresponding people is judged non-diagnostically to acquire the correlation of smell and age. In the description of the present invention, the term "subject" includes health personnel.

For example, the device of the invention can be applied to olfactory characteristic test and olfactory memory test of people in different areas or people in different ethnicities, and can be used for non-diagnostically judging and acquiring the correlation between the smell and the age.

The olfactory epithelium within the nasal cavity contains millions of chemical receptors that recognize odors, and when odors enter the nasal cavity, the olfactory receptor neurons in the olfactory epithelium detect these odors and send nerve signals to the olfactory bulb. These signals are then transmitted through the olfaction to the olfactory cortex of the brain, which recognizes and perceives the odor. Thus, the devices and methods of the present invention can be applied to the testing of olfaction while analyzing the activity of olfactory-related organs of the brain, such as the olfactory cortex, and analyzing the activity of memory-related organs of the brain, such as the frontal lobe and hippocampus; and further explore and study brain cognitive states or brain region functions.

The apparatus and method of the present invention may be applied to auxiliary judgment not for direct purposes of diagnosis, providing olfactory features for reference by a clinician. For example, hyposmia and working memory impairment are one of the early signs of brain diseases such as parkinson's disease, alzheimer's disease, and the like; the olfactory working memory test relies on both olfaction and working memory, and such a "two-in-one" test may be more sensitive than a single olfactory test or working memory test. Therefore, the technical scheme of the invention can provide a plurality of referential parameters aiming at the olfactory characteristics of the tested individual (the tested person) for the clinician, so that the early screening of the related brain diseases can be realized by further combining other conditions of the tested individual (such as mobility (whether the movement is slow or not), whether hands and feet are tremble, facial expression change, a plurality of clinical marker test results and the like).

It should be understood that although these examples are given, the apparatus of the present invention is not limited to such applications.

The invention will be further illustrated with reference to specific examples. It is to be understood that these examples are illustrative of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The experimental methods, in which specific conditions are not noted in the following examples, are generally conducted under conventional conditions or under conditions recommended by the manufacturer.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a schematic diagram of an apparatus that facilitates an intuitive understanding of the present invention, it being understood that the size of the individual elements/devices in the schematic diagram is not a scaled enlargement or reduction relative to the size of the elements/devices of the actual apparatus, which is primarily intended to be illustrative for ease of understanding.

As shown in fig. 1 to 2, the structure of the olfactory working memory test device of the present invention comprises:

the box body 1, one of the upper side, the front side and the left and right sides of the box body 1 is of an open structure, and the other side of the left and right sides is closed but provided with a hole communicated with the outside;

the air pump 4 is positioned in the box body, has the power of 20 liters/minute, is connected with a twelve-turn split joint 43, and is communicated with 10 odor vent pipes 41 (which are communicated with the air bottle), 1 air vent pipe 42 (which are communicated with the odor diffusion cover) and 1 partial pressure pipe 44 (when a valve is opened, the air from the air pump can be directly discharged into the environment);

the number of the gas cylinders 2 in the box is 10, and the gas cylinders are respectively used for storing and releasing different odors and are communicated with the odor vent pipe 41; the odor vent pipe 41 starts inside the cabinet and finally feeds the odor diffusion cover 6. Each odor vent pipe 41 is communicated with the air pump 4, is connected with the corresponding air cylinder 2 through the two-way valve 53 and is connected with the air outlet of the air cylinder, and can output the odor of the air cylinder to the odor diffusion cover 6 for transmitting the odor during the olfactory work memory capacity test; the device comprises 11 independent smell vent pipes 41 (10 smell vent pipes communicated with the air outlet of the air bottle 2, 1 air vent pipe) which extend out of the box body and are communicated to the smell diffusion cover 6 for releasing ten kinds of smell and air;

A control system 5 located within the tank, comprising: the control board 51 is of the model Mega2560, and is connected with a signal processing system (a computer host) for receiving and collecting signals; an amplifying plate 52, which is used for amplifying the 5 volt signal to 12 volts and is connected with the two-way valve; a two-way valve 53 for receiving a specific signal to perform an on/off operation on the gas path; a 12 volt power supply providing the operating voltage of the two way valve. Here, the amplifying board is used to convert the voltage of the control board from 5V to 12V, and if the control board uses 12V, the amplifying board is not needed.

An odor diffusion cover 6 for diffusing the released odor into the air; the semi-open type air outlet design is adopted; the air outlet is connected with the mask, so that the air can be intensively released to the vicinity of nostrils of the subject, the contact between the subject and the air is increased, and the smell can be conveniently distinguished by the subject; meanwhile, the semi-open design is convenient for gas to diffuse into the space, so that the residue of odor molecules on the mask is reduced, and the mixing of different odors near nostrils is avoided;

a control and display operating system 7 including a signal processing system (computer host) for controlling the control system 5, transmitting control information to the control board 51, and receiving key information of the subject from the operating unit 71 (keyboard) for processing analysis; a display screen 72 for displaying a test design screen; an operating component 71 for selecting during the odour discriminating phase.

A head fixing device 3 which is matched with the shape of the head of a human body and is provided with an odor diffusion cover 6; and the head fixing device 3 is located right in front of the display screen 72; so that a person may look at the display screen 72 during testing.

The connection of the air pump 4, the amplifying plate 52, the control plate 51, and the odor supply system 3 is as shown in fig. 2 to 3. Wherein, the control board 51 is connected with the amplifying board 52 by a wire line (11), the amplifying board is connected with the two-way valves by a wire line (11), each two-way valve 53 is connected with the amplifying board 52 by a separate wire line (11), and the on/off state of each two-way valve 53 is controlled by the control board 51 through the amplifying board 52. On the other hand, the air pump 4 is connected with an air duct from the air outlet, and then the air duct is divided into 12 branch (1 branch 12) pipelines, wherein 10 pipelines are respectively connected with 10 air cylinders for outputting smell, and the two-way valves (correspondingly, 10 two-way valves) are arranged between the pipelines and the air cylinders; wherein 1 pipe directly outputs air and is also provided with a two-way valve (1 two-way valve is corresponding); there is also 1 pipe which is a pressure dividing pipe 44 which does not communicate with the two-way valve but serves as a pressure dividing passage through which gas is output when all the two-way valves are closed. Wherein the gas cylinders or air connected with the 11 two-way valves are respectively output through independent pipelines until reaching the odor diffusion cover 6.

The two-way valve is positioned between the air pump 4 and the air bottle. In a state, when the control panel controls the down-direction valve to be closed, gas generated by the air pump 4 is not input into the air bottle, so that smell in the air bottle is not output; in another state, when the control panel controls the lower two-way valve to be opened, the gas generated by the gas pump 4 is input into the gas cylinder through the odor vent pipe, so that the odor in the gas cylinder is output to the odor diffusion cover 6 through the odor vent pipe.

In this example, the device of example 1 was used to design a working memory measurement method for odor testing.

The test uses an item identification paradigm, and a single test includes three stages of encoding, delay and identification, as shown in fig. 4.

In the encoding phase, the device described in the embodiment is started, the air pump 4 is turned on, the partial two-way valve 53 is opened by controlling the control panel 51 and the amplifying panel 52 operatively connected with the control panel, the odors from the plurality of air cylinders 2 of the air cylinders 2 are sequentially conveyed to the odor diffusion cover 6 through the odor supply system 3, the odors are released, each odor lasts for 4 seconds, and the interval between the two odors is 2 seconds. The number of odors was gradually increased from 3 to 5 (memorization load, load 3 was 3 odors, load 4 was 4 odors, and load 5 was 5 odors in the figure). At this stage, a red cartoon face prompt is displayed on the display screen 72 associated with the device when the scent is presented.

In the delay phase, the device does not release any smell, requiring the subject to memorize all the smell presented in the encoding phase. The delay period is 2 seconds long and the gray cartoon face prompt is displayed on the display screen 72.

In the recognition phase, by the control of the control panel 51, a smell is presented in a random one of the cylinders 2, requiring the subject to determine whether this smell has occurred in the encoding phase, and to answer by operating the component 71 keys: yes/no, or one of them. The probability of a correct answer being "yes" or "no" is 50% each. When the smell is presented, a blue cartoon face prompt is displayed on a screen connected with the device.

Based on the sensitivity of the person to smell and the brain response, the flow of the more optimal test designed by the inventors is as follows:

step 0: the number of initial odors in the encoding stage was 3 (load 3), and the odor species were random.

Step 1: in the encoding phase, the device randomly selects 3 different scents, which are presented to the subject in turn. The subjects inhale through the semi-open air jets and smell and memorize these odors. Each smell lasted 4 seconds with a 2 second interval between the two smells. After all odors were present, a delay period of 2 seconds was entered.

Step 2: during the recognition phase, the device randomly selects 1 scent to present to the subject. The subject should judge whether the scent was present in step 1 based on memory and answer yes or no within 5 seconds.

Step 3: first, step 1 and step 2 are repeated 10 times.

Then, the number of odors in the encoding stage was sequentially increased to 4 and 5. At each memory load level, steps 1-3 are repeated except for the set change in the number of odors.

In the test, the head is fixed to the head fixing device 3 with the odor diffusion cover 6, and the test is performed according to the above procedure. And performing evaluation analysis according to the key condition of the subject. First, the working memory capacity K, k= (hit rate-false alarm rate) ×memory load of the subject at each memory load level was calculated separately. Then, the memory capacity curve is drawn by taking the working memory load level as the horizontal axis and the working memory capacity at the corresponding load level as the vertical axis.

The primary output of the test is the working memory capacity curve.

The human sense of smell is far less sensitive than some animals such as mice, and thus animal experiments cannot be referenced. The inventor finds out after repeated experiments that the mask is designed to be a semi-open smell diffusion mask through optimization, and ventilation volume matched with the mask is arranged at the air outlet, so that the mask is beneficial to the receiving of smell by a subject, and the rapid diffusion and removal of the former smell after being received by the subject are facilitated. In correspondence with the semi-open odor diffusion cover, the present inventors set the ventilation amount of each odor at the air outlet to be 1.5 to 3L/min.

In this example, 10 standard odors from Fenmeiyi and Qij Hua Du were used, including Fenmeiyi's Dai rice (cat No. 939668), jasmine lactone (cat No. 965414) and Qij Hua Du's cyclohexadecenone (cat No. 1382293), isobutylquinoline (cat No. 6127003), vanillin isobutyrate (cat No. 1465543), cyclopropylanisole (cat No. 14203), fresh menthone (cat No. 5202703), gingerol (cat No. 5503001), kaffiti (cat No. 6378003), linalyl formate (cat No. 5150501) and ambroxol (cat No. 908930).

Ventilation of semi-open odor diffusion cover 6: 2.2 L/min.

A series of subjects were tested according to the test procedure of example 2 described above.

Age: sex, university of cultural degree, no history of neurological or mental diseases.

According to the test procedure of the foregoing example 2, the working memory capacity curve of the subject was plotted after obtaining the results.

As a result, as shown in fig. 5, it can be seen that the subject has a working memory capacity K of greater than 2 for all three to five odors, indicating that the subject has a better olfactory working memory overall.

Age: 27, sex men, cultural degree study life, no history of neurological or mental diseases.

As a result, as shown in fig. 5, it can be seen that the subject has a working memory capacity K of approximately 2 for three to four odors and a working memory capacity K of only 1 for five odors, indicating that the subject exhibits a significant decrease in working memory as the memory load increases.

Age: 63, sexes, high cultural levels, no history of neurological or mental diseases.

As a result, as shown in fig. 5, it can be seen that the subject has a working memory capacity K of approximately 1 for three to four odors, a working memory capacity K of less than-1 for five odors, indicating that the subject has a poor olfactory working memory overall and a significantly reduced working memory performance as the memory load increases.

From the above test, the present inventors found that the test scheme of example 2 was matched to the human odor recognition ability, and the olfactory working memory of the subject could be accurately judged. Meanwhile, repeated experiments on specific crowds also show that the detection result of the odor combination used in the embodiment is accurate and reliable, and the stability is good.

Lemon odor, melon odor, marine odor, chocolate odor, blueberry odor, lavender odor, rose odor, osmanthus odor, gardenia odor and juicy peach odor of Als essence company are adopted. It should be noted that the Als flavor company names these odors as, for example, chocolate flavors and the like, but they are "familiar" but "difficult to name" odors according to the identification of the present inventors; "chocolate", "lemon" herein is the name of the scent of the flavor company and is not directly equivalent to the actual feel of the scent.

Ventilation of semi-open odor diffusion cover 6: 2.2. 2.2L/min.

Age: 24, sex, university of cultural level, no history of neurological or mental diseases.

As a result, as shown in fig. 6, it can be seen that the subject has a working memory capacity K of approximately 1 for all three to five odors. Although the test results were relatively stable, the measured working memory capacity K was lower compared to subject 1, who was similar in age and culture.

Age: 23, sex men, cultural degree study life, no history of neurological or mental diseases.

As a result, as shown in fig. 6, it can be seen that the subject has a working memory capacity K of approximately 1 for three to four odors and a working memory capacity K of approximately 0 for five odors, indicating that the subject exhibits a significant decrease in working memory as the memory load increases. The measured working memory capacity K was lower compared to subject 2 of similar age and cultural extent.

The test results of the present inventors showed that the use of the odor of alse essence company for the test was generally stable for the measured working memory capacity. The odor combination used in example 3 was relatively more stable to the same population.

The test uses the project identification paradigm, and a single test includes three stages of encoding, delaying and identifying, except for the specific noted factors such as scent duration, the flow is substantially the same as that shown in fig. 4.

In the encoding phase, the device of the embodiment was turned on, and by controlling the control board 51, a plurality of odors from several cylinders of the cylinder 2 were sequentially presented to the subject, each of which lasted 3 seconds, with a 2 second interval between the two odors. The number of odors was gradually increased from 3 to 5 (memory load 3 to memory load 5). At this stage, a red cartoon face prompt is displayed on the display screen 72 associated with the device when the scent is presented.

In the delay phase, the device does not release any smell, requiring the subject to memorize all the smell presented in the encoding phase. The delay period is 2 seconds long and only a black gaze point is displayed on the display screen 72.

step 0: the number of initial odors in the encoding stage was 3.

Step 1: in the encoding phase, the device randomly selects 3 different scents, which are presented to the subject in turn. The subjects inhale through the semi-open air jets and smell and memorize these odors. Each smell lasted 3 seconds, with a 2 second interval between the two smells. After all odors were present, a delay period of 2 seconds was entered.

Step 3: first, step 1 and step 2 are repeated 5 times.

Then when the subjects judged to be correct 4 times and more in 5 tests, the number of odors in the encoding stage was increased to 4 and 5 in order. At each memory load level, steps 1-3 are repeated except for the set change in the number of odors.

And performing evaluation analysis according to the key condition of the subject.

The primary output of the test is the working memory capacity curve.

According to the test procedure of the foregoing example 5, the working memory capacity curve of the subject was plotted after obtaining the results.

As a result, as shown in fig. 7, it can be seen that the subject has a working memory capacity K of greater than 2 for all three to four odors, but a working memory capacity K of less than-1.5 for five odors, indicating that the subject exhibits a significant decrease in working memory as the memory load increases, similar to the working memory capacity K tested for subject 2 (close to 2) whose age culture is close.

The above results demonstrate that an approximate memory capacity curve can be measured after reducing the odor administration time from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.

In the encoding phase, the device of the embodiment was turned on, and by controlling the control board 51, a plurality of odors from several cylinders of the cylinder 2 were sequentially presented to the subject, each of which lasted 4 seconds, with a 2 second interval between the two odors. The number of odors was gradually increased from 3 to 9 (memory load 3 to memory load 9). At this stage, a red cartoon face prompt is displayed on the display screen 72 associated with the device when the scent is presented.

step 0: the number of initial odors in the encoding stage was 3.

Step 3: first, step 1 and step 2 are repeated 5 times.

The number of scents in the encoding stage then increases in sequence to 4 and 5. At each memory load level, steps 1-3 are repeated except for the set change in the number of odors.

The primary output of the test is the accuracy curve.

According to the test procedure of the foregoing example 4, 21 subjects were plotted for accuracy after obtaining the results.

As a result, as shown in fig. 8, it can be seen that the memory accuracy of 21 subjects for 3 to 9 odors decreased with increasing number of odors, the memory accuracy decreased slowly when 3 to 5 odors were tested, the working memory performance was stable, and the working memory performance decreased rapidly when 6 and more odors were tested.

The above results demonstrate that for humans, using 3 to 5 odors as a memory load, a highly stable, high accuracy test result can be obtained.

All documents mentioned in this disclosure are incorporated by reference in this disclosure as if each were individually incorporated by reference. Further, it will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art after reading the above teachings, and such equivalents are intended to fall within the scope of the application as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for testing human olfactory working memory, comprising:

(1) Providing a device for human olfactory working memory testing, wherein the device comprises an scent supply system and a testing system;

the scent supply system includes: the control system, the air pump, N gas cylinders and the smell diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinders or the air pump; the air pump outputs air to the air bottle or the odor diffusion cover; the gas cylinders are independently packaged with different odors; the control system starts or closes the output of the smell in the gas cylinder or the air of the air pump to the diffusion cover; the odor diffusion cover imparts odor or air to the subject; wherein N is a natural number of 3-30;

the test system includes: an operating component that is manipulated by the subject to feedback his judgment of the scent; a signal processing system that performs information processing based on manipulation of the subject;

(2) The subject wears the odor diffusion cover, the following steps are carried out by using the device of the (1), the human olfactory working memory test is carried out, and the test result is obtained:

encoding: (a) Closing the air output of the air pump, opening the output of smell in any air cylinder to the diffusion cover for 2-15 seconds, (b) closing the air cylinder, opening the output of air of the air pump to the diffusion cover for 1-6 seconds; changing the opened gas cylinder, repeating the steps (a) - (b), and presenting various odors to the subject; wherein steps (a) - (b) are repeated until the last time (b) is a "delay period", wherein the delay period does not release a scent, and the delay period has a duration of 2 seconds;

And (3) an identification stage: starting the output of the smell in any gas cylinder to the diffusion cover for 3-12 seconds, requiring a subject to judge the smell, controlling the operation assembly to feed back the result, and processing information through the signal processing system;

wherein in the recognition phase, the subject gives a judgment of yes or no by judging whether the smell output in the phase appears in the encoding phase, and controls the operation component to feed back the result;

the signal processing system judges whether a subject is accurate or not according to the actual smell of the gas cylinder, if the smell which is accurately recognized as being hit, if the smell which is not recognized as being false is erroneously judged as being false, the type number of the smell which is presented in the coding stage is taken as memory load, and the working memory capacity (K) is calculated: working memory capacity= (hit rate-false alarm rate) x memory load.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the test system further comprises: and the display screen is used for displaying the smell supply state and prompting the test requirement to the subject in real time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises: the box body is of a non-closed structure; in the odor supply system, the control system, the air pump and the air bottle are positioned in the box body; the odor diffusion cover communicated with the gas cylinder or the gas pump is positioned outside the box body.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the air pump supplies air to the air inlets of the air cylinders through separate pipes, respectively; the air pump outputs air to the N air cylinders through a joint of 1-turn (N+2), directly outputs air to the odor diffusion cover or outputs air to the outside.

5. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the control system comprises: control panel, valve;

the valve is positioned on a vent pipe between the air pump and the air bottle or on a vent pipe between the air pump and the odor diffusion cover;

the control panel is in operative connection with the valve to control the opening or closing of the valve; wherein the valve is a two-way valve.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas cylinder includes a gas inlet and a gas outlet, the gas pump supplies gas to the gas inlet of the gas cylinder, and the gas outlet outputs the odor to the odor diffusion cover through a separate pipe.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the odor diffusion mask is a non-enclosed mask that delivers odor or air to the olfactory organ of the subject such that the subject is in proper contact with the gas while being susceptible to gas diffusion; wherein the odor diffusion cover is a semi-open mask.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises: a head fixation device for placing the head of the subject.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the odor diffusion cover is secured to the head fixation device, the odor diffusion cover matching the olfactory organ of the subject after the subject has placed the head.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the test system further comprises a display screen, the head restraint being positionally responsive to the display screen, an image of the display screen being viewable by the subject after the head is positioned.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein in the encoding stage, the steps (a) - (b) are repeated 1-9 times to present 2-10 odors to the subject at that stage.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the encoding stage,

(a) The output time of the smell in any gas cylinder to the diffusion cover is 3-10 seconds; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

(b) The output time of the air pump to the diffusion cover is 1.5-6 seconds.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the odor or air flux during the identification phase is 1.5 to 3L/min of the air outlet.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein in the identification phase, the odor in any one of the cylinders is output to the diffusion hood for 3.5-9 seconds.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the analysis of the "encoding stage-recognition stage" is repeated 2 to 30 times, and the average value of the working memory capacity is counted.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing a further analysis after completion of a working memory capacity calculation, increasing the number of odor species presented to the subject, and performing a working memory capacity calculation; wherein, the odor increases by 1 to 2.

17. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the scent comprises a scent selected from the group consisting of: the flavor of the compositions may be selected from the group consisting of orecord odor, jasmonate odor, cyclohexaenone odor, isobutylquinoline odor, vanillin isobutyrate odor, cyclopropylanisole odor, fresh menthone odor, gingerol odor, kefir odor, linalyl formate and ambroxol odor, lemon odor, melon odor, marine odor, chocolate odor, blueberry odor, lavender odor, rose odor, osmanthus fragrans odor, gardenia odor, juicy peach odor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the odor comprises a component selected from the group consisting of: the odor of dolichos, the odor of jasmonates, the odor of cyclohexanones, the odor of isobutylquinolines, the odor of vanillin isobutyrates, the odor of cyclopropylanisole, the odor of fresh menthone, the odor of gingerol, the odor of kaffiti, linalyl formate and ambroxol.

19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising: the test system enables the test subjects to watch the display screen during the test, and the display screen displays the odor supply state and prompts the test requirements in real time.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the display displays image 1 when the encoding stage presents a scent; the image 2 is displayed when the encoding stage does not present a smell and the image 3 is displayed when the recognition stage presents a smell.

21. Use of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20 for performing a human olfactory working memory capacity test, for performing a human odor sensitivity test, for performing an analysis of brain cognitive states or brain area functions associated with olfactory memories; or, an apparatus for performing an olfactory working memory capacity test, an odor sensitivity test, or a brain cognitive state or brain region functional analysis associated with olfactory memory in a human is prepared.