Centre for Policy on Ageing



Olfactory functioning and cognitive abilities — a twin study
Author(s)	Deborah Finkel, Nancy L Pedersen, Maria Larsson
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 56B, no 4, July 2001
Pages	pp P226-P233
Keywords	Smell [sense] loss ; Mental health [elderly] ; Cognitive processes ; Twins ; Evaluation ; Sweden.
Annotation	A Swedish version of the National Geographic Smell Survey was completed by 227 twin pairs from the Swedish Adoption / Twin Study of Ageing. Twins ranged in age from 45 to to 89 years. Quantitative genetic analysis of four measures of olfactory functioning indicated moderate heritability for odour identification and perceived intensity and non-significant heritability for odour detection and perceived pleasantness. Bivariate analysis revealed that the relationship between smell identification and measure of verbal ability was primarily genetically mediated. The results provided further support for the hypothesis that odour identification and verbal ability in general tap the same cognitive domain. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-010814204 A
Classmark	BLR: D: DA: SVR: 4C: 76P
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.