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Halpern, Bruce Peter
S.L. Sage Professor
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Positions
- Professor, Psychology (PSYCH), College of Arts and Sciences - 2012
- Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior (BIO NB), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) - 2012
My research is primarily in sensory systems, studying chemosensory functions and behaviors. MY LABORATORY`S FOCUS IS SMELL IN HUMANS. This research is designed to increase knowledge and understanding of retronasal smelling (smelling odorants that are located in the oral cavity) in relation to orthonasal smelling (smelling odorants that are located near the anterior nares [nostrils]). The term "smelling" is used rather than "olfaction" because odorants can potentially access both the trigeminally-innervated nasal and oral mucosa and the olfactory mucosa of the nasal cavity during normal retronasal or orthonasal presentation of odorantst. Subjects are asked to describe the odorants, match them for intensity, indicate their intensity, or distinguish between odorants and their solvents. These descriptions, intensity reports and discriminations are be made either once for each odorant presentation or repeatedly during and after an odorant presentation (time-intensity or time-quality measures). Digital computers are used to provide instructions and acquire responses.
Research Areas
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Affiliations
other Cornell affiliations
Research
research overview
- My research is primarily in sensory systems, studying chemosensory functions and behaviors. MY LABORATORY'S FOCUS IS SMELL IN HUMANS. This research is designed to increase knowledge and understanding of retronasal smelling (smelling odorants that are located in the oral cavity) in relation to orthonasal smelling (smelling odorants that are located near the anterior nares [nostrils]). The term "smelling" is used rather than "olfaction" because odorants can potentially access both the trigeminally-innervated nasal and oral mucosa and the olfactory mucosa of the nasal cavity during normal retronasal or orthonasal presentation of odorantst. Subjects are asked to describe the odorants, match them for intensity, indicate their intensity, or distinguish between odorants and their solvents. These descriptions, intensity reports and discriminations are be made either once for each odorant presentation or repeatedly during and after an odorant presentation (time-intensity or time-quality measures). Digital computers are used to provide instructions and acquire responses. I'm also interested in AGING AND CHEMOSENSORY PERCEPTION. Human ability to detect or identify odorants often declines with age, but the rate of decline differs between odorants. These differential declines, coupled with lesser changes in tasting ability, can have profound effects on appreciation of flavor, enjoyment of food, quality of life, and, for odorants per se, responses to warning odorants.
co-principal investigator on
keywords
- Neuroscience
- Sensory physiology
- chemoreception
- olfaction
- retronasal
- smell
submitted impact statement
Publications
individual publications
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academic article
- Orthonasal and retronasal but not oral-cavity-only discrimination of vapor-phase fatty acids. . Chemical Senses. 35:229-238. 2010
- No oral-cavity-only discrimination of purely olfactory odorants. Chemical Senses. 34:121-126. 2009
- Retronasal and oral-cavity-only identification of air-phase trigeminal stimuli. Chemosensory Perception. 2:9-24. 2009
- An oral cavity component in retronasal smelling of natural extracts. Physiology and Behavior. 93:521-528. 2008
- Mechanisms and consequences of retronasal smelling: computational fluid dynamic observations and psychophysical measures. ChemoSense. 10:1-8. 2008
- Retronasal and orthonasal time-intensity patterns in relation to judged pleasantness, familiarity, and food relatedness. Chemical Senses. 33. 2008
- Retronasal but not oral-cavity-only identification of "purely olfactory" odorants. Chemical Senses. 33:107-118. 2008
- Experience-induced changes in taste identification of monosodium glutamate (MSG) are reversible. Chemical Senses. 31:301-306. 2006
- Identification of Air Phase Retronasal and Orthonasal Odorant Pairs. Chemical Senses. 30:693-706. 2005
- Temporal characteristics of human taste judgements as calibrations for gustatory event-related potentials and gustatory magnetoencephalographs. Chemical Senses. 30. 2005
- Retronasal and orthonasal smelling. ChemoSense. 6:1-7. 2004
- The Effect of Microgravity and Space Flight on the Chemical Senses. Journal of Food Science. 67:468-478. 2002
- What’s in a name? Are MSG and Umami the same?. Chemical Senses. 27:845-846. 2002
- Glutamate and the Flavor of Foods. Journal of Nutrition. 130. 2000
- Retronasal and orthonasal identifications of vapor-phase food-grade liquid extracts of plant materials. Chemical Senses. 25:610. 2000
- Sensory coding, decoding, and representations. Unnecessary and troublesome Constructs?. Physiology & Behavior. 69:115-118. 2000
- Anion Size of Sodium Salts and Simple Taste Reaction Times. Physiology & Behavior. 66:27-32. 1999
- Amiloride and Vertebrate Gustatory Responses to NaCl. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 23:5-47. 1998
- Effects of Amiloride on Gustatory Quality Descriptions and Temporal Patterns Produced by NaCl. Chemical Senses. 23:501-511. 1998
- Sensitivity and behavioral responses to the pheromone androstenone are not mediated by the vomeronasal organ in domestic pig. Brain, Behavior, and Evolution. 49:53-62. 1997
- A comparison of tip of the tongue and sip & spit screening procedures. Food Quality and Preference. 7:293-297. 1996
- Orthonasal and retronasal identification based upon vapor phase input from common substances. Chemical Senses. 21:529-543. 1996
- Olfactory sensitivity to the pheromone, androstenone, is sexually dimorphic in the pig. Physiology & Behavior. 57:255-259. 1995
- Overview: Kirin International Symposium on Bitter Taste. Physiology & Behavior. 56:1265-1266. 1994
- Gustatory response latencies in the frog. Chemical Senses. 18:169-187. 1993
- Speed and consistency of human decisions to swallow or spit sweet and sour solutions. Experientia. 48:1106-1109. 1992
- Sex differences in olfactory sensitivity to the boar chemosignal, androstenone, in the domestic pig. Animal Behavior. 42:403-411. 1991
- Time-quality tracking of monosodium glutamate, sodium saccharin, and a citric acid-saccharin mixture. Physiology & Behavior. 49:855-862. 1991
- Gustatory sensitivity of an anuran to cantharidin. Experientia. 46:763-764. 1990
- Studies on the taste modifiers. I. purification and structure determination of sweetness inhibiting substances in leaves of Ziziphus jujuba. Tetrahedron. 44:61-66. 1988
- Taste judgments and gustatory stimulus duration: taste quality, taste intensity, and reaction time. Chemical Senses. 13:559-586. 1988
- Taste judgments and gustatory stimulus duration: simple taste reaction times. Chemical Senses. 12:543-562. 1987
- Gymnemic acids: secondary plant substances of dual defensive action?. Journal of Insect Physiology. 20:435-439. 1974
- Taste distortion and plantpalatability. Science. 172:1362. 1971
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booksection
- Taste 2002
- Taste 1999
- Challenges for the Chemical Senses in the Next Quarter Century, The Academic View 1994
- Smell. Vol. 17. 1994
- Taste. Vol. 19. 1994
- The Senses. Vol. 17. 1994
- Hunger. Vol. 9. 1990
- Pain 1990
- Smell. Vol. 17. 1990
- Taste. Vol. 19. 1990
- Thirst. Vol. 19. 1990
- Brief taste stimuli: cued and uncued magnitude estimates and their reaction times. Vol. 510. 1987
- Comparisons between human gustatory judgments of square wave trains and continuous pulse presentations of aqueous stimuli: reaction times and magnitude estimates. Vol. 510. 1987
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chapter
- Retronasal olfaction. Sensory Systems. Chemical Senses. Olfaction. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience.. 297-304. 2008
- When are oral cavity odorants available for retronasal olfaction?. Handbook of Flabor Characterization: Sensory, Chemical, and Physiological Techniques. 51-63. 2003
- Psychophysics of Taste. Tasting and Smelling. Handbook of Perception and Cognition. 77-123. 1997
- Temporal Patterns of Perceived Tastes Differ From Liquid Flow at the Tongue. Olfaction and Taste XI. 297-300. 1994
- More than meets the tongue: temporal characteristics of taste intensity and quality. Sensory Science Theory and Applications in Foods. 37-105. 1991
- Recent developments in umami research. Umami: A Basic Taste. 637-642. 1987
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conference paper
- Effects of cantharidin (Spanish fly) on the taste nerve of a frog. 10th Annual Mtg. Assoc. Chemorecept. Sci., Chem. Senses. 702. 1988
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document part
- Differential loss of retronasal relative to orthonasal olfaction in a clinical population 2003
- Time-quality tracking of retronasal and orthonasal odorant pairs 2003
- Asymmetric interactions between heterogeneous retronasal and orthonasal odorant pairs 2002
- Retronasal and orthonasal odorant interactions: masking. 1103. 2001
- A Clinical Test of Retronasal Olfactory Function. 608. 1999
- A Clinical Test of Retronasal Olfactory Function. 608. 1999
- Retronasal And Orthonasal Odorant Identification Without Sniffing. 600. 1999
- Retronasal And Orthonasal Odorant Identification Without Sniffing. 600. 1999
Teaching
teaching overview
- My instructional foci are on the effects of aging on sensory and perceptual systems, the biochemistry of aging, and the sensory systems involved in hearing, seeing, touch, taste, and smell.
teaching activities
- FDSC-5000: Master of Professional Studies (Agriculture) Project - Spring 2013
- FDSC-6960: Graduate Internship in Food Science - Spring 2013
- FDSC-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Spring 2013
- FDSC-9900: Doctoral-Level Thesis Research - Spring 2013
- PSYCH-4700: Undergraduate Research in Psychology - Spring 2013
- PSYCH-4710: Advanced Undergraduate Research in Psychology - Spring 2013
- FDSC-6960: Graduate Internship in Food Science - Fall 2012
- FDSC-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Fall 2012
- FDSC-9900: Doctoral-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2012
- BIONB-4200: Topics in Neurobiology and Behavior - Spring 2012
- FDSC-5000: Master of Professional Studies (Agriculture) Project - Spring 2012
- FDSC-6960: Graduate Internship in Food Science - Spring 2012
- FDSC-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Spring 2012
- FDSC-9900: Doctoral-Level Thesis Research - Spring 2012
- PSYCH-4700: Undergraduate Research in Psychology - Spring 2012
- PSYCH-4710: Advanced Undergraduate Research in Psychology - Spring 2012
- PSYCH-6271: Topics in Biopsychology - Spring 2012
- BIONB-4210: Effects of Aging on Sensory and Perceptual Systems - Fall 2011
- FDSC-5000: Master of Professional Studies (Agriculture) Project - Fall 2011
- FDSC-6960: Graduate Internship in Food Science - Fall 2011
- FDSC-8900: Masters-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2011
- FDSC-9900: Doctoral-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2011
- PSYCH-4310: Effects of Aging on Sensory and Perceptual Systems - Fall 2011
- PSYCH-4700: Undergraduate Research in Psychology - Fall 2011
- PSYCH-4710: Advanced Undergraduate Research in Psychology - Fall 2011
- PSYCH-6310: Effects of Aging on Sensory and Perceptual Systems - Fall 2011
Service
outreach overview
- My outreach foci are to improve the general understanding of the importance and nature of human smelling of odorants that are located in the oral cavity, including the behavioral, fluid dynamical, and physicochemical aspects.
Background
education and training
- Cornell University 1961
- Ph.D. in, Brown University 1959
- Brown University 1957
- B.A. in, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 1955
Other
college
- CALS
research keyword
- Neuroscience
- Sensory physiology
- chemoreception
- olfaction
- retronasal
- smell
name prefix
- Professor