Carthage psychology professor Leslie Cameron has launched a new study to investigate the relationship between pregnancy and sense of smell. With the help of student Brittney Helbig, '12, Prof. Cameron will test the odor memory of women in their first trimester of pregnancy, looking for scientific evidence that pregnancy affects odor perception.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that women who are pregnant experience smells differently than women who are not. "Women report that there are particular odors to which they are more sensitive during pregnancy, or odors that they find less pleasant," Prof. Cameron said.

Yet there's very little scientific evidence to support this claim. Dr. Cameron first become interested in this topic years ago, and "was stunned to find that there was almost no literature, even though it's something that you hear about all the time," she said. "Really, there's just a handful of papers, and very few of those studies found a real enhancement in sense of smell."

Prof. Cameron's study utilizes an odor memory task. Volunteers will be asked to smell an odor, and then try to recall that odor a short period of time later. "Odor memory is a task that may involve higher-order brain mechanisms," she explained. "The current hypothesis is that maybe what's happening is not so much at the early stage of odor processing — there isn't necessarily a change in the nose or a change in sensitivity — but a more central change. It seems more likely that something's happening in the brain at a higher level. It's not that pregnant women are better at detecting odors, but that they're more aware of odors."

This heightened odor-awareness may be connected to nausea during pregnancy, more common in the first trimester. "If we have a better understanding of what's going on with sense of smell during pregnancy, it might help us understand morning sickness and help women who suffer from those symptoms," Prof. Cameron said.

Prof. Cameron has been researching pregnancy and sensory perception since 2005. In 2007, she spent a sabbatical working at the University of Pennsylvania's Smell and Taste Center with center director Dr. Richard Doty. This study is partially funded by The Smell and Taste Center and a Carthage Quality of Life Committee Faculty Research and Development Grant.

In addition to her research on hormones and chemosensory perception (taste and smell), Prof. Cameron studies humor development and visual perception and attention. She regularly involves students in her research.

"It's fun to be in a field where there are basic questions like this one that are unanswered," she said.