Pamela Dalton

Member

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

Recent Publications

Dalton, P., Maute, C., Oshida, A., Hikichi, S., & Izumi, Y. (2008). The use of semantic differential scaling to define the multi-dimensional representation of odors. Journal of Sensory Studies, 23, 485-497.

Gallagher, M., Dalton, P., Sitvarin.L., & Preti, G. (2008). Sensory and analytical evaluation of paints with and without Texanol. Environmental Science & Technology, 42, 243-248.

Petrova, M., Diamond, J., Shuster, B., & Dalton, P. (2008). Evaluation of trigeminal sensitivity to ammonia in asthmatics and healthy human volunteers. Inhalation Toxicology, 20, 1085-1092.

Dalton, P., Lees, P. S. J., Gould, M., Dilks, D., Stefaniak, A., Bader, M. et al. (2007). Evaluation of long-term occupational exposure to styrene vapor on olfactory function. Chemical Senses, 32, 739-747.

Smeets, M. A., Bulsing, P. J., van Rooden, S., Steinmann, R., de Ru, J. A., Ogink, N. W. M. et al. (2007). Odor and irritation thresholds for ammonia: a comparison between static and dynamic olfactometry. Chemical Senses, 32, 11-20.

Zhao, K. & Dalton, P. (2007). The way the wind blows: implications of modeling nasal airflow. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports, 7, 117-125.

Dalton, P., Dilks, D. D., & Hummel, T. (2006). Effects of long-term exposure to volatile irritants on sensory thresholds, negative mucosal potentials, and event-related potentials. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120, 180-187.

Zhao, K., Pribitkin, E. A., Cowart, B. J., Rosen, D., Scherer, P. W., & Dalton, P. (2006). Numerical modeling of nasal obstruction and endoscopic surgical intervention: outcome to airflow and olfaction. American Journal of Rhinology, 20, 308-316.

Chen, D. & Dalton, P. (2005). The effect of emotion and personality on olfactory perception. Chemical Senses, 30, 345-351.

Dalton, P. & Opiekun, R. E. (2005). Effects of inhaled toxicants on the nose and nasal function. In H.Salem & S. Katz (Eds.), Inhalation Toxicology, 2nd edition ( New York: Taylor and Francis.

Diamond, J., Dalton, P., Doolittle, N., & Breslin, P. A. S. (2005). Gender-specific olfactory sensitization: hormonal and cognitive influences. Chemical Senses, 30 Suppl 1, i224-i225.

Diamond, J., Breslin, P. A. S., Doolittle, N., Nagata, H., & Dalton, P. (2005). Flavor processing: perceptual and cognitive factors in multi-modal integration. Chemical Senses, 30 Suppl 1, i232-i233.

Nagata, H., Dalton, P., Doolittle, N., & Breslin, P. A. S. (2005). Psychophysical isolation of the modality responsible for detecting multimodal stimuli: a chemosensory example. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 31, 101-109.

Smeets, M. A. & Dalton, P. (2005). Evaluating the human response to chemicals: odor, irritation and non-sensory factors. Environmental Toxicology & Pharmacology, 19, 581-588.

Smeets, M. A., Kroeze, J. H. A., & Dalton, P. (2005). Setting occupational exposure limits in humans: contributions from the field of experimental psychology. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 79, 299-307.

Zhao, K., Dalton, P., Yang, G. C., & Scherer, P. W. (2005). Numerical modeling of turbulent and laminar airflow and odorant transport during sniffing in the human and rat nose. Chemical Senses 31, 107-118.