Odors, Deployment Stress, and Health: A Conditioning Analysis of Gulf War Syndrome
Abstract
Troops deployed in the Persian Gulf War were exposed to an unusually diverse mix of odorous chemicals at the same time as they were exposed to physiological and psychological stressors B a scenario that research in animal models suggests will lead to the development of specific conditioned responses. The goal of this research is to investigate the extent to which people can acquire stress reactions as conditioned responses to odors and exhibit health symptoms as a result of such conditioning episodes. Thus, the paradigm investigated in this project can serve as a model system for examining and understanding the persistent symptom constellations found in GWS and other stress-mediated syndromes. Results from the first three studies strongly suggest that odor-stress conditioning can powerfillly mediate elevations in hormonal status (salivary cortisol) self-reported stress, health symptoms and judged cognitive effort on memory tests, and that cognitive information about the nature of the chemical odor may enhance the stress and health symptom reports over that which is due to conditioning alone. Current studies are continuing to explore additional parameters of the odor-stress conditioning paradigm.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA443004
Entities
People
- Pamela Dalton
Organizations
- Monell Chemical Senses Center