# Habituation to saltiness in unimodal and crossmodal perceptions

Lucie Ben Sussan, Thibault Chabin, Thierry Thomas-Danguin, Charlotte Sinding

► To cite this version:

Lucie Ben Sussan, Thibault Chabin, Thierry Thomas-Danguin, Charlotte Sinding. Habituation to saltiness in unimodal and crossmodal perceptions. Chemical Senses, 2025, 50, pp.bjaf055.191. 10.1093/chemse/bjaf055. hal-05474461

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Submitted on 23 Jan 2026

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# ABSTRACTS

## ECRO 2025 CONFERENCE

### Annual Meeting of the European Chemoreception Research Organization, ECRO 2025

### Bizkaia Aretoa, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, 15-18 September 2025

**Organizing committee:** Laura López-Mascaraque, Pablo Chamero, Enrique Lanuza, Gaskon Ibarretxe, Carolina Gómez-Diaz, Carlos Matute, Almudena Ramos, Laura Gómez-Santos, Ainara Vallejo, Lucía Jiménez-Rojo, José Ramón Pineda

**abstract citation id:** bjaf055.001

## 1. KEYNOTE LECTURES

### Invisible Heritage: smells as cultural records

Cecilia Bembibre¹

¹University College London, London, United Kingdom

Smell holds deep cultural and historical meaning, yet it has long been overlooked in heritage practice. Olfactory heritage is an emerging field that recognises and protects the scents associated with places, objects, and traditions. These odours are often transient, but they carry strong connections to identity, memory, and lived experience. Preserving them supports resilience and sensory continuity in times of environmental, social, and material change.

In recent years, through my work at University College London and with partners across the world, I have developed methods for identifying and documenting historically significant smells. This includes chemically analysing volatile compounds in materials such as historic potpourri, ancient embalming substances, and old manuscripts. We have also worked with museums and heritage professionals to interpret and communicate these smells through public exhibitions and participatory experiences.

But this work isn't only about conservation. Olfactory heritage connects science with human experience. These real-world smells help researchers study how memory works, how emotions are triggered, and how the brain processes complex information. They offer new ways to explore how the senses work together, and how cultural context shapes perception.

Our findings show that olfactory heritage contributes to cultural sustainability by safeguarding sensory knowledge that might otherwise be lost. It helps communities maintain links to past environments, traditions, and everyday practices. Through reconstructed scents and archival approaches, olfactory heritage supports intergenerational knowledge transfer, enabling archives beyond written records and images.

At a time when many valuable smells are at risk, preserving scent offers a new way to protect cultural diversity. It adds value to heritage conservation by considering the sensory dimension

of place, and it invites new cross-disciplinary collaborations across chemistry, perfumery, computer science, history, and the arts.

In this presentation, I will share examples of recent research and practical applications in the field, as well as ways in which olfactory heritage can contribute to other disciplines. It will make the case for recognising smell as part of our intangible heritage, and for including olfactory knowledge in how we care for and interpret the cultural record.

**abstract citation id:** bjaf055.002

### Neurogenesis for adult olfactory circuits

Isabel Fariñas¹

¹CIBERNED & Instituto de Biotecnología y Biomedicina, Universidad de Valencia

No abstract available.

**abstract citation id:** bjaf055.003

### Sensing with pheromones in freely moving mice

Lisa Stowers¹

¹The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Unites States
No abstract available.

**abstract citation id:** bjaf055.004

### Brain myelin as an energy source in health and disease

Carlos Matute¹

¹CIBERNED, IIE Biobizkaia, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Spain

No abstract available.
Mammals detect a vast array of odorant molecules via odorant receptors (ORs), a large subfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). In many GPCRs, intramolecular disulfide bonds between or within extracellular domains are critical for proper structural formation. However, certain GPCRs, including some ORs, lack one of the conserved cysteine residues in extracellular loop 2 (ECL2), leaving the role of these bonds unclear. Here, we reveal the functional importance of a unique cysteine residue in the N-terminal region of an OR that compensates for the missing ECL2 cysteine and modulates receptor expression and activity. In ORs lacking the conserved ECL2 cysteine, a cysteine in the N-terminal domain may form an alternative disulfide bond, as observed in OR51E2, the only native mammalian OR with an experimentally determined structure¹. We demonstrate that the N-terminal cysteine in OR51E2 is essential for full ligand-induced responsiveness in heterologous cells. Moreover, per-residue confidence scores from AlphaFold for cysteine mutants of ORs correlate with both surface expression and receptor function, suggesting the role of alternative disulfide bond-mediated structural stabilization. We propose that ORs, and potentially other GPCRs, utilize flexible disulfide bonding strategies involving extracellular cysteines, including those in the N-terminus, to achieve proper folding and function.

**Funding:** This work was supported by JSPS-KAKENHI, JST ACT-X, Program on Open Innovation Platform with Enterprises, Research Institute and Academia, and JST SPRING.

## Reference

1 Billesbolle, C. B. et al. Structural basis of odorant recognition by a human odorant receptor. Nature (2023)

abstract citation id: bjaf055.191

## Habituation to saltiness in unimodal and crossmodal perceptions

Lucie Ben-Sussan¹, Thibault Chabin¹, Thierry Tomas-Danguin¹, Charlotte Sinding¹

¹Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Université Bourgogne Europe, F-21000 Dijon, France

We investigated whether saltiness perception decreases with repeated exposure to a salty stimulus, a phenomenon referred to as sensory habituation. If habituation occurs, it might promote higher salt intake to compensate for taste attenuation. Secondly, we assessed whether a congruent aroma—smoky bacon—could attenuate this habituation.

The experiment was initially designed for EEG; however, only the sensory results are presented here. Stimulations were delivered via a gustometer on the extended tongue and saltiness was rated on a vertical continuous scale from “very low” to “very high.” in the course of the blocks. The protocol consisted of three blocks: **1) participants received short pulses (500 ms) of 2% NaCl every 2.5 s, repeated 40

times, embedded in water pulses to reduce somatosensory artifacts. The sequence was repeated five times, with 1-minute breaks; **2) they received pulses of 1% NaCl during 20.4 s; and had to held the solution in mouth for another 10 s. This was repeated 20 times (1-minute intervals); **3) same as Block 2, but with 0.03% smoky bacon aroma added. In Block 1, a slight but significant saltiness habituation occurred (−0.71 ± 0.20 units on a 10-point scale; *z* < −5.13, *p* < 0.001), sustained across trials despite recovery periods. In Block 3 compared to Block 2, the addition of the smoky bacon resulted in a strong increase in initial saltiness perception compared to the salt-only condition (+2.71 ± 0.39 units). However, stronger habituation was found in the crossmodal condition compared to unimodal (−1.32 ± 0.36 units; *z* < −6.56, *p* < 0.001). Saltiness perception habituates over short repeated exposures. The addition of a congruent aroma amplifies initial saltiness but also accelerates habituation, suggesting that olfactory habituation may be more pronounced than gustatory. This raises considerations for aroma-based salt-reduction strategies.

**Funding:** This research was supported by a grant from French Research National Agency (ANR) [Grant N° ANR-19-CE21-0009].

abstract citation id: bjaf055.192

## Smell, self, and sustenance: exploring sensory and emotional correlates of deviant eating behavior

Ekaterina Rzhevskia¹, Ilja Crojimans¹, Laura Speed¹, Margot van Mulken¹

¹Center for Language Studies, Radboud University. The Netherlands

Previous research has shown lowered olfactory functions and odor discrimination in individuals with eating disorders. However, little is known about people with deviant eating behavior (DEB), a potential subclinical precursor to eating disorders. This study, part of a larger project, investigates the association between individual differences in eating behavior and self-reported food relationships, olfactory perception, sensory imagery, and body image.

This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study uses continuous measures of eating behavior patterns to explore links with scores from other questionnaires. Now, 97 participants completed an online survey assessing their sensitivity to food-related disgust (FDS), body perception (BISS), olfactory awareness (OAS-6), vividness of sensory imagery (Psi-Q), and eating behavior patterns (TFEQ-18).

We hypothesize that individuals' higher emotional scores on scales will indicate more extreme patterns of eating behavior. We expect DEB participants to have higher scores on the Food Disgust Scale while having lower scores on the Positive Eating Scale. It is also expected that they will have lower scores on both the Odor Awareness Scale and the Body Image Scale, suggesting lowered smell