Affiliations
Member, Monell Chemical Senses Center
Co-Chair, Monell Postdoctoral Training Program
Education
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology; New York University
M.P.H. (Public Health); Drexel University
Research Summary
My research attempts to broadly understand how cognitive and emotional processes modify the way we perceive odor and sensory irritation from volatile chemicals. One approach involves examining the associations and disassociations between subjective (self-report) and objective markers of irritation (e.g., ocular inflammation, nasal blood flow, respiratory patterns) resulting from chemical exposure. Another line of investigation examines the relationship between exposure frequency, adaptation and clinical sequelae from exposure to airborne chemicals, both in the laboratory and in occupational and community settings. In a related effort, modeling how odorant transport factors (e.g., physico-chemical characteristics of the odorant, nasal airflow, inflammatory changes) affect these processes can provide additional insight into variation in olfactory perception among the population.
Keywords
olfaction, sensory irritation, environment, volatiles, cognition, emotion, symptom perception, occupational exposure
Representative Publications
Odours and incontinence: What does the nose know? Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H, 233, 127-134.
(2019) Discrimination Between Individual Body Odors Is Unaffected by Perfume. Perception, 48, 1104-1123.
(2019) Exploring the science, safety, and benefits of air care products: perspectives from the inaugural air care summit. Inhalation Toxicology, 31, 12-24.
The human olfactory cleft mucus proteome and its age-related changes. Scientific Reports, 8, 17170.
Lack of respiratory and ocular effects following acute propylene glycol exposure in healthy humans. Inhalation Toxicology, 30, 124-132.
Nasal Structural and Aerodynamic Features That May Benefit Normal Olfactory Sensitivity. Chemical Senses, 43, 229-237.
Formaldehyde Induces Rho-Associated Kinase Activity to Evoke Airway Hyperresponsiveness. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 55, 542-553.
Jan, C.; Dalton, P. (2014) Asthma and odors: The role of risk perception in asthma exacerbation. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 77, 302-8.
Integrating asthma hazard characterization methods for consumer products. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 70, 37-45.
Wise, P.M.; Breslin, P.A.S.; Dalton, P.H. (2014) Effect of taste sensation on cough reflex sensitivity. Lung, 192, 9-13.
Zhao, K.; Jiang, J.; Pribitkin, E.A.; Dalton, P.; Rosen, D.; Lyman, B.; Yee, K.K.; Rawson, N.E.; Cowart, B.J. (2014) Conductive olfactory losses in chronic rhinosinusitis? A computational fluid dynamics study of 29 patients. International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, 4, 298-308.
Zhao, K.; Malhotra, P.; Rosen, D.; Dalton, P.; Pribitkin E.A. (2014) Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as surgical planning tool: A pilot study on middle turbinate partial resection. Anatomical Record, 297, 2187-95.
