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Zavatone-Veth JA, Masset P, Tong WL, Zak JD, Murthy VN, Pehlevan C. Neural Circuits for Fast Poisson Compressed Sensing in the Olfactory Bulb. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.21.545947. [PMID: 37961548 PMCID: PMC10634677 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.21.545947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Within a single sniff, the mammalian olfactory system can decode the identity and concentration of odorants wafted on turbulent plumes of air. Yet, it must do so given access only to the noisy, dimensionally-reduced representation of the odor world provided by olfactory receptor neurons. As a result, the olfactory system must solve a compressed sensing problem, relying on the fact that only a handful of the millions of possible odorants are present in a given scene. Inspired by this principle, past works have proposed normative compressed sensing models for olfactory decoding. However, these models have not captured the unique anatomy and physiology of the olfactory bulb, nor have they shown that sensing can be achieved within the 100-millisecond timescale of a single sniff. Here, we propose a rate-based Poisson compressed sensing circuit model for the olfactory bulb. This model maps onto the neuron classes of the olfactory bulb, and recapitulates salient features of their connectivity and physiology. For circuit sizes comparable to the human olfactory bulb, we show that this model can accurately detect tens of odors within the timescale of a single sniff. We also show that this model can perform Bayesian posterior sampling for accurate uncertainty estimation. Fast inference is possible only if the geometry of the neural code is chosen to match receptor properties, yielding a distributed neural code that is not axis-aligned to individual odor identities. Our results illustrate how normative modeling can help us map function onto specific neural circuits to generate new hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Zavatone-Veth
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- Department of Physics, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Paul Masset
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - William L Tong
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Joseph D Zak
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL 60607
| | - Venkatesh N Murthy
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Cengiz Pehlevan
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
- Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138
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2
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Zung JL, Kotb SM, McBride CS. Exploring natural odour landscapes: A case study with implications for human-biting insects. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.08.539789. [PMID: 37398328 PMCID: PMC10312452 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.08.539789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
The natural world is full of odours-blends of volatile chemicals emitted by potential sources of food, social partners, predators, and pathogens. Animals rely heavily on these signals for survival and reproduction. Yet we remain remarkably ignorant of the composition of the chemical world. How many compounds do natural odours typically contain? How often are those compounds shared across stimuli? What are the best statistical strategies for discrimination? Answering these questions will deliver crucial insight into how brains can most efficiently encode olfactory information. Here, we undertake the first large-scale survey of vertebrate body odours, a set of stimuli relevant to blood-feeding arthropods. We quantitatively characterize the odour of 64 vertebrate species (mostly mammals), representing 29 families and 13 orders. We confirm that these stimuli are complex blends of relatively common, shared compounds and show that they are much less likely to contain unique components than are floral odours-a finding with implications for olfactory coding in blood feeders and floral visitors. We also find that vertebrate body odours carry little phylogenetic information, yet show consistency within a species. Human odour is especially unique, even compared to the odour of other great apes. Finally, we use our newfound understanding of odour-space statistics to make specific predictions about olfactory coding, which align with known features of mosquito olfactory systems. Our work provides one of the first quantitative descriptions of a natural odour space and demonstrates how understanding the statistics of sensory environments can provide novel insight into sensory coding and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica L. Zung
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA 08544
| | | | - Carolyn S. McBride
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA 08544
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3
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Spence C. 'Tasting Imagination': What Role Chemosensory Mental Imagery in Multisensory Flavour Perception? Multisens Res 2022; 36:93-109. [PMID: 36731527 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-bja10091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
A number of perplexing phenomena in the area of olfactory/flavour perception may fruitfully be explained by the suggestion that chemosensory mental imagery can be triggered automatically by perceptual inputs. In particular, the disconnect between the seemingly limited ability of participants in chemosensory psychophysics studies to distinguish more than two or three odorants in mixtures and the rich and detailed flavour descriptions that are sometimes reported by wine experts; the absence of awareness of chemosensory loss in many elderly individuals; and the insensitivity of the odour-induced taste enhancement (OITE) effect to the mode of presentation of olfactory stimuli (i.e., orthonasal or retronasal). The suggestion made here is that the theory of predictive coding, developed first in the visual modality, be extended to chemosensation. This may provide a fruitful way of thinking about the interaction between mental imagery and perception in the experience of aromas and flavours. Accepting such a suggestion also raises some important questions concerning the ecological validity/meaning of much of the chemosensory psychophysics literature that has been published to date.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Spence
- Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, New Radcliffe House, Walton Street, Oxford, OX2 6BW, UK
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4
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Roche A, Mejean Perrot N, Thomas-Danguin T. OOPS, the Ontology for Odor Perceptual Space: From Molecular Composition to Sensory Attributes of Odor Objects. MOLECULES (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 27:molecules27227888. [PMID: 36431988 PMCID: PMC9698817 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27227888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
When creating a flavor to elicit a specific odor object characterized by odor sensory attributes (OSA), expert perfumers or flavorists use mental combinations of odor qualities (OQ) such as Fruity, Green, and Smoky. However, OSA and OQ are not directly related to the molecular composition in terms of odorants that constitute the chemical stimuli supporting odor object perception because of the complex non-linear integration of odor mixtures within the olfactory system. Indeed, single odorants are described with odor descriptors (OD), which can be found in various databases. Although classifications and aroma wheels studied the relationships between OD and OQ, the results were highly dependent on the studied products. Nevertheless, ontologies have proven to be very useful in sharing concepts across applications in a generic way and to allow experts' knowledge integration, implying non-linear cognitive processes. In this paper, we constructed the Ontology for Odor Perceptual Space (OOPS) to merge OD into a set of OQ best characterizing the odor, further translated into a set of OSA thanks to expert knowledge integration. Results showed that OOPS can help bridge molecular composition to odor perception and description, as demonstrated in the case of wines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Roche
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, INRAE, CNRS, Institut Agro, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000 Dijon, France
| | - Nathalie Mejean Perrot
- UMR MIA 518, AgroParisTech, INRAE, Université Paris Saclay, F-75015 Paris, France
- Correspondence: (N.M.P.); (T.T.-D.); Tel.: +33-670-371300 (N.M.P.); +33-380-693084 (T.T.-D.)
| | - Thierry Thomas-Danguin
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, INRAE, CNRS, Institut Agro, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000 Dijon, France
- Correspondence: (N.M.P.); (T.T.-D.); Tel.: +33-670-371300 (N.M.P.); +33-380-693084 (T.T.-D.)
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5
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How does wine ageing influence perceived complexity? Temporal-Choose-All-That-Apply (TCATA) reveals temporal drivers of complexity in experts and novices. Food Qual Prefer 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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6
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Malfeito-Ferreira M. Fine wine flavour perception and appreciation: Blending neuronal processes, tasting methods and expertise. Trends Food Sci Technol 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2021.06.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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7
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Keep B, Pike TW, Moszuti SA, Zulch HE, Ratcliffe VF, Porritt F, Hobbs E, Wilkinson A. The impact of training method on odour learning and generalisation in detection animals. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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8
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Gerlach G, Wullimann MF. Neural pathways of olfactory kin imprinting and kin recognition in zebrafish. Cell Tissue Res 2021; 383:273-287. [PMID: 33515290 PMCID: PMC7873017 DOI: 10.1007/s00441-020-03378-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Teleost fish exhibit extraordinary cognitive skills that are comparable to those of mammals and birds. Kin recognition based on olfactory and visual imprinting requires neuronal circuits that were assumed to be necessarily dependent on the interaction of mammalian amygdala, hippocampus, and isocortex, the latter being a structure that teleost fish are lacking. We show that teleosts—beyond having a hippocampus and pallial amygdala homolog—also have subpallial amygdalar structures. In particular, we identify the medial amygdala and neural olfactory central circuits related to kin imprinting and kin recognition corresponding to an accessory olfactory system despite the absence of a separate vomeronasal organ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriele Gerlach
- Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl-von-Ossietzky University, 26129, Oldenburg, Germany.,Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity Oldenburg (HIFMB), 26129, Oldenburg, Germany.,Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, QLD, 4811, Townsville, Australia
| | - Mario F Wullimann
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences & Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany. .,Max-Planck-Institute for Neurobiology, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
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9
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Sinding C, Hummel T, Béno N, Prescott J, Bensafi M, Coureaud G, Thomas-Danguin T. Configural memory of a blending aromatic mixture reflected in activation of the left orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Behav Brain Res 2021; 402:113088. [PMID: 33358920 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.113088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 12/13/2020] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Blending aromatic mixtures components naturally fuse to form a unique odor - a configuration- qualitatively different from each component's odor. Repeated exposure to the components either in the mixture or separately, favors respectively, configural and elemental processings. The neural bases of such processes are still unknown. We examined the brain correlates of the experienced-induced configural processing of a well-known model of binary blending odor mixture, the aromatic pineapple blending (AB, ethyl maltol + ethyl isobutyrate). Before fMRI recording, half of the participants were repeatedly exposed to the mixture (AB, group Gmix), with the other half exposed to its separate components (A and B; Gcomp). During the fMRI recording, all participants were stimulated with the mixture (AB) and the components (A and B). Finally, participants rated the number of odors perceived for each stimulus. Gmix perceived the AB mixture as less complex than did Gcomp. While Gcomp perceived the mixture as more complex than its components, Gmix did not. These results show the presence of experience-induced configural or elemental processing of the AB mixture in each group. Contrasting the brain activity of Gcomp and Gmix, when stimulated with AB, revealed higher activation in the left orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus. This result sheds light on this area's function, commonly found activated in olfactory studies, and closely connected with the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. We discuss the role of this area as a mediator of configural percepts between temporal and orbitofrontal areas involved in configural memory processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Sinding
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRAE, CNRS, AgroSup Dijon, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France.
| | - T Hummel
- Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of ORL, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany
| | - N Béno
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRAE, CNRS, AgroSup Dijon, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - J Prescott
- University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Australia; Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
| | - M Bensafi
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5292, INSERM U1028, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon 1, France
| | - G Coureaud
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5292, INSERM U1028, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon 1, France
| | - T Thomas-Danguin
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRAE, CNRS, AgroSup Dijon, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France
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10
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Müschenich FS, Sichtermann T, Di Francesco ME, Rodriguez-Raecke R, Heim L, Singer M, Wiesmann M, Freiherr J. Some like it, some do not: behavioral responses and central processing of olfactory-trigeminal mixture perception. Brain Struct Funct 2020; 226:247-261. [PMID: 33355693 PMCID: PMC7817597 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-020-02178-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Exploring the potential of eucalyptol as a masking agent for aversive odors, we found that eucalyptol masks the olfactory but not the trigeminal sensation of ammonia in a previous study. Here, we further investigate the processing of a mixture consisting of eucalyptol and ammonia, two olfactory–trigeminal stimuli. We presented the two pure odors and a mixture thereof to 33 healthy participants. The nostrils were stimulated alternately (monorhinal application). We analyzed the behavioral ratings (intensity and pleasantness) and functional brain images. First, we replicated our previous finding that, within the mixture, the eucalyptol component suppressed the olfactory intensity of the ammonia component. Second, mixture pleasantness was rated differently by participants depending on which component dominated their mixture perception. Approximately half of the volunteers rated the eucalyptol component as more intense and evaluated the mixture as pleasant (pleasant group). The other half rated the ammonia component as more intense and evaluated the mixture as unpleasant (unpleasant group). Third, these individual differences were also found in functional imaging data. Contrasting the mixture either to eucalyptol or to both single odors, neural activation was found in the unpleasant group only. Activation in the anterior insula and SII was interpreted as evidence for an attentional shift towards the potentially threatening mixture component ammonia and for trigeminal enhancement. In addition to insula and SII, further regions of the pain matrix were involved when assessing all participant responses to the mixture. Both a painful sensation and an attentional shift towards the unpleasant mixture component complicates the development of an efficient mask because a pleasant perception is an important requirement for malodor coverage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska S Müschenich
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
| | - Thorsten Sichtermann
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Maria Elisa Di Francesco
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Rea Rodriguez-Raecke
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Lennart Heim
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Martin Wiesmann
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Jessica Freiherr
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.,Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany
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11
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Luckett CR, Pellegrino R, Heatherly M, Alfaro Martinez K, Dein M, Munafo PJ. Discrimination of Complex Odor Mixtures: A Study Using Wine Aroma Models. Chem Senses 2020; 46:6043126. [PMID: 33347541 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
There are key unanswered questions when it comes to multicomponent odor discrimination. This study was designed to assess discrimination of odorant mixtures that elicit a singular percept. We collected data to address the following two questions: (1) What odor features do humans notice when attempting to discriminate between subtly different odor mixtures? (2) Are odor mixtures easier to discriminate when an odorant is added, compared with when a component is removed? Using modern aroma chemistry techniques, an odor mixture resembling a generic white wine was constructed. This wine odor mixture was modified using a series of three esters which are commonly found in white wines that vary in chain length and branching. Participants performed a sequence of discrimination tasks for the addition/subtraction of modifiers to the base wine at different concentrations. Only one of the esters (ethyl propanoate) led to a discriminable odor mixture. As concentration of the modifying odorant was increased, discrimination of odor mixtures was first reported because of changes in odor mixture familiarity and then intensity. We found similar sensitivity to changes in odor mixtures regardless whether the modifying compound was added or subtracted, suggesting that perceptual stability of odor mixtures is equally dependent on both imputing missing information (pattern completion) and disregarding extraneous information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis R Luckett
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Robert Pellegrino
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | | | - Katherine Alfaro Martinez
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.,Department of Food Science, Zamorano University, Francisco Morazán, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A
| | - Melissa Dein
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - P John Munafo
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
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12
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Penker S, Licht T, Hofer KT, Rokni D. Mixture Coding and Segmentation in the Anterior Piriform Cortex. Front Syst Neurosci 2020; 14:604718. [PMID: 33328914 PMCID: PMC7710992 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2020.604718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Coding of odorous stimuli has been mostly studied using single isolated stimuli. However, a single sniff of air in a natural environment is likely to introduce airborne chemicals emitted by multiple objects into the nose. The olfactory system is therefore faced with the task of segmenting odor mixtures to identify objects in the presence of rich and often unpredictable backgrounds. The piriform cortex is thought to be the site of object recognition and scene segmentation, yet the nature of its responses to odorant mixtures is largely unknown. In this study, we asked two related questions. (1) How are mixtures represented in the piriform cortex? And (2) Can the identity of individual mixture components be read out from mixture representations in the piriform cortex? To answer these questions, we recorded single unit activity in the piriform cortex of naïve mice while sequentially presenting single odorants and their mixtures. We find that a normalization model explains mixture responses well, both at the single neuron, and at the population level. Additionally, we show that mixture components can be identified from piriform cortical activity by pooling responses of a small population of neurons-in many cases a single neuron is sufficient. These results indicate that piriform cortical representations are well suited to perform figure-background segmentation without the need for learning.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Dan Rokni
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, School of Medicine and IMRIC, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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13
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Wycke MA, Coureaud G, Thomas-Danguin T, Sandoz JC. Configural perception of a binary olfactory mixture in honey bees, as in humans, rodents and newborn rabbits. J Exp Biol 2020; 223:jeb227611. [PMID: 33046568 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.227611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
How animals perceive and learn complex stimuli, such as mixtures of odorants, is a difficult problem, for which the definition of general rules across the animal kingdom remains elusive. Recent experiments conducted in human and rodent adults as well as newborn rabbits suggested that these species process particular odor mixtures in a similar, configural manner. Thus, the binary mixture of ethyl isobutyrate (EI) and ethyl maltol (EM) induces configural processing in humans, who perceive a mixture odor quality (pineapple) that is distinct from the quality of each component (strawberry and caramel). Similarly, rabbit neonates treat the mixture differently, at least in part, from its components. In the present study, we asked whether the properties of the EI.EM mixture extend to an influential invertebrate model, the honey bee Apis mellifera. We used appetitive conditioning of the proboscis extension response to evaluate how bees perceive the EI.EM mixture. In a first experiment, we measured perceptual similarity between this mixture and its components in a generalization protocol. In a second experiment, we measured the ability of bees to differentiate between the mixture and both of its components in a negative patterning protocol. In each experimental series, the performance of bees with this mixture was compared with that obtained with four other mixtures, chosen from previous work in humans, newborn rabbits and bees. Our results suggest that when having to differentiate mixture and components, bees treat the EI.EM in a robust configural manner, similarly to mammals, suggesting the existence of common perceptual rules across the animal kindgdom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Anne Wycke
- Evolution, Genomes, Behavior and Ecology, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, IRD, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Gérard Coureaud
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Equipe Codage et Mémoire Olfactive, CNRS/INSERM/UCBL1, 69500 Bron, France
| | - Thierry Thomas-Danguin
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAE, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Sandoz
- Evolution, Genomes, Behavior and Ecology, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, IRD, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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14
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Zak JD, Reddy G, Vergassola M, Murthy VN. Antagonistic odor interactions in olfactory sensory neurons are widespread in freely breathing mice. Nat Commun 2020; 11:3350. [PMID: 32620767 PMCID: PMC7335155 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17124-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Odor landscapes contain complex blends of molecules that each activate unique, overlapping populations of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Despite the presence of hundreds of OSN subtypes in many animals, the overlapping nature of odor inputs may lead to saturation of neural responses at the early stages of stimulus encoding. Information loss due to saturation could be mitigated by normalizing mechanisms such as antagonism at the level of receptor-ligand interactions, whose existence and prevalence remains uncertain. By imaging OSN axon terminals in olfactory bulb glomeruli as well as OSN cell bodies within the olfactory epithelium in freely breathing mice, we find widespread antagonistic interactions in binary odor mixtures. In complex mixtures of up to 12 odorants, antagonistic interactions are stronger and more prevalent with increasing mixture complexity. Therefore, antagonism is a common feature of odor mixture encoding in OSNs and helps in normalizing activity to reduce saturation and increase information transfer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph D Zak
- Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
| | - Gautam Reddy
- NSF-Simons Center for Mathematical & Statistical Analysis of Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Massimo Vergassola
- Laboratoire de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, Paris, F-75005, France
| | - Venkatesh N Murthy
- Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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15
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Walker SC, Williams K, Moore DJ. Superior Identification of Component Odors in a Mixture Is Linked to Autistic Traits in Children and Adults. Chem Senses 2020; 45:391-399. [PMID: 32249289 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Most familiar odors are complex mixtures of volatile molecules, which the olfactory system automatically synthesizes into a perceptual whole. However, odors are rarely encountered in isolation; thus, the brain must also separate distinct odor objects from complex and variable backgrounds. In vision, autistic traits are associated with superior performance in tasks that require focus on the local features of a perceptual scene. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the same advantage was observed in the analysis of olfactory scenes. To do this, we compared the ability of 1) 40 young adults (aged 16-35) with high (n = 20) and low levels of autistic traits and 2) 20 children (aged 7-11), with (n = 10) and without an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, to identify individual odor objects presented within odor mixtures. First, we used a 4-alternative forced choice task to confirm that both adults and children were able to reliably identify 8 blended fragrances, representing food-related odors, when presented individually. We then used the same forced choice format to test participants' ability to identify the odors when they were combined in either binary or ternary mixtures. Adults with high levels of autistic traits showed superior performance on binary but not ternary mixture trials, whereas children with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis outperformed age-matched neurotypical peers, irrespective of mixture complexity. These findings indicate that the local processing advantages associated with high levels of autistic traits in visual tasks are also apparent in a task requiring analytical processing of odor mixtures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susannah C Walker
- Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | | | - David J Moore
- Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
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16
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McClintock TS, Wang Q, Sengoku T, Titlow WB, Breheny P. Mixture and concentration effects on odorant receptor response patterns in vivo. Chem Senses 2020; 45:bjaa032. [PMID: 32427281 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Natural odors are mixtures of volatile chemicals (odorants). Odors are encoded as responses of distinct subsets of the hundreds of odorant receptors and trace amine-associated receptors expressed monogenically by olfactory sensory neurons. This is an elegantly simple mechanism for differentially encoding odors but it is susceptible to complex dose-response relationships and interactions between odorants at receptors, which may help explain olfactory phenomena such as mixture suppression, synthetic versus elemental odor processing, and poorly predictable perceptual outcomes of new odor mixtures. In this study in vivo tests in freely behaving mice confirm evidence of a characteristic receptor response pattern consisting of a few receptors with strong responses and a greater number of weakly responding receptors. Odorant receptors responsive to an odor are often unrelated and widely divergent in sequence, even when the odor consists of a single species of odorant. Odorant receptor response patterns to a citrus odor broaden with concentration. Some highly sensitive receptors respond only to a low concentration but others respond in proportion to concentration, a feature that may be critical for concentration-invariant perception. Other tests find evidence of interactions between odorants in vivo. All of the odorant receptor responses to a moderate concentration of the fecal malodor indole are suppressed by a high concentration of the floral odorant, α-ionone. Such suppressive effects are consistent with prior evidence that odorant interactions at individual odorant receptors are common.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Qiang Wang
- Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
| | - Tomoko Sengoku
- Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
| | - William B Titlow
- Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
| | - Patrick Breheny
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
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17
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Bakke AJ, Carney EM, Higgins MJ, Moding K, Johnson SL, Hayes JE. Blending dark green vegetables with fruits in commercially available infant foods makes them taste like fruit. Appetite 2020; 150:104652. [PMID: 32169594 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Revised: 08/20/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Vegetables are an important but under consumed part of a healthy diet. There is growing interest in promoting vegetable acceptance and consumption among infants to help establish life-long healthy eating patterns. A recent survey of commercial baby food products in the United States by Moding and colleagues revealed a lack of variety in the types of vegetables offered. Most notably, there were no commercially available single, dark green vegetable products. Instead, dark green vegetables were often mixed with fruits or red/orange vegetables (e.g., squash) that provide additional sweetness. In order for liking for vegetables to be learned, the flavors from the vegetables must still be perceptible within the mixture. Thus, the objective of the research reported here was to understand the sensory profiles of vegetable-containing Stage 2 infant products commercially available in the United States and how ingredient composition affects flavor profiles. We performed descriptive analysis to quantitatively profile the sensory properties of 21 commercial vegetable-containing infant foods and one prepared in our laboratory. Eleven experienced panelists participated in 14.5 h of lexicon generation and training prior to rating all 22 products (in triplicate) for 14 taste, flavor, and texture attributes. Products that contained fruit were not only sweeter than products that did not contain fruit but were also higher in fruit flavors and lower in vegetable flavors. In general, sensory profiles were driven by the first ingredient in the product. Because few products had dark green vegetables as a first ingredient, dark green vegetable flavor was not prevalent in this category. This suggests the sensory profiles of commercially available infant vegetables foods may not be adequate to facilitate increased acceptance of green vegetables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa J Bakke
- Sensory Evaluation Center, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Elizabeth M Carney
- Sensory Evaluation Center, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Molly J Higgins
- Sensory Evaluation Center, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Kameron Moding
- Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition, School of Medicine, CU-Anschutz, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Susan L Johnson
- Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition, School of Medicine, CU-Anschutz, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - John E Hayes
- Sensory Evaluation Center, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
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18
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Rodriguez-Raecke R, Loos HM, Sijben R, Singer M, Beauchamp J, Buettner A, Freiherr J. A Masked Aversive Odor Cannot Be Discriminated From the Masking Odor but Can Be Identified Through Odor Quality Ratings and Neural Activation Patterns. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:1219. [PMID: 31798404 PMCID: PMC6868123 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Odor masking is a very prominent problem in our daily routines, mainly concerning unpleasant sweat or toilet odors. In the current study we explored the effectiveness of odor masking both on a behavioral and neuronal level. By definition, participants cannot differentiate a fully masked unpleasant odor from the pleasant pure odor used as a masking agent on a behavioral level. We hypothesized, however, that one can still discriminate between a fully masked odor mixture and the pure masking odor on a neuronal level and that, using a reinforcing feedback paradigm, participants could be trained to perceive this difference. A pleasant, lemon-like odor (citral) and a mixture of citral and minor amounts of an unpleasant, goat-like odor (caproic acid) were presented to participants repeatedly using a computer-controlled olfactometer and participants had to decide whether two presented stimuli were the same or different. Accuracy of this task was incentivized with a possible monetary reward. Functional imaging was used throughout the task to investigate central processing of the two stimuli. The participants rated both stimuli as isopleasant and isointense, indicating that the unpleasant odor was fully masked by the pleasant odor. The isolated caproic acid component of the mixture was rated less pleasant than the pleasant odor in a prior experimental session. Although the masked and pure stimuli were not discriminated in the forced-choice task, quality ratings on a dimensional scale differed. Further, we observed an increased activation of the insula and ventral striatum/putamen for the pure in contrast to the fully masked odor, hence revealing a difference in neuronal processing. Our hypothesis that perceptual discrimination and neuronal processing can be enhanced using a reinforcing feedback paradigm is not supported by our data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rea Rodriguez-Raecke
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany
| | - Helene M Loos
- Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany.,Chair of Aroma and Smell Research, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Rik Sijben
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Jonathan Beauchamp
- Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany
| | - Andrea Buettner
- Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany.,Chair of Aroma and Smell Research, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Jessica Freiherr
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
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19
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Müschenich FS, Sijben R, Gallenmüller F, Singer M, Rodriguez-Raecke R, Di Francesco ME, Wiesmann M, Freiherr J. Eucalyptol Masks the Olfactory But Not the Trigeminal Sensation of Ammonia. Chem Senses 2019; 44:733-741. [PMID: 31541234 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjz065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Eucalyptol is a substance with rather pleasant olfactory and trigeminal characteristics and is thus suggested as an efficient tool for malodor coverage. In this study ammonia would be the malodor substance such as is found in cat litter or hair coloration. We investigated the potential of eucalyptol to inhibit both the olfactory as well as the trigeminal sensation of ammonia. For this purpose, we mixed eucalyptol and ammonia and compared odor component intensities. After being presented with either the pure odors or a binary mixture thereof, 21 young and healthy participants had to lateralize the odors and rate component (eucalyptol and ammonia) and total intensity. Analysis of intensity ratings revealed hypoadditivity (total mixture intensity was less than the sum of the total intensity of the single components). Significant interaction effects verified that mixing eucalyptol and ammonia only affected the perceived intensity of ammonia. Comparing the odor components within the pure and mixed stimuli, the ammonia component was rated as significantly less intense in the mixture compared to pure ammonia whereas the eucalyptol component was rated equal in the pure and mixed condition. On the basis of lateralization scores, we observed trigeminal mixture enhancement. We conclude that eucalyptol is a suitable masking agent to cover the unpleasant smell of ammonia; however, it fails to serve as an ammonia counterirritant because it lacks the ability to mask the trigeminal sensation of ammonia.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rik Sijben
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Felix Gallenmüller
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Marco Singer
- Symrise AG, Division Scent and Care, Holzminden, Germany
| | - Rea Rodriguez-Raecke
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Martin Wiesmann
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Jessica Freiherr
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany.,Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Erlangen, Germany
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20
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Hofstetter CK, Dunkel A, Hofmann T. Unified Flavor Quantitation: Toward High-Throughput Analysis of Key Food Odorants and Tastants by Means of Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2019; 67:8599-8608. [PMID: 31287302 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.9b03466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Because foods are perceived through combined inputs from taste and odor, which are determined by the concentration of the individual odor and taste molecules, the unified high-throughput quantitation of volatile odorants and non-volatile tastants with the very same instrumental setup has been a long-standing but yet unmet dream. The research presented here for the first time demonstrates, after only minimal sample workup, the highly accurate, rapid, and sensitive unified quantitation of odorants and tastants of key flavor molecules in apple juice on a single ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) platform over a large dynamic range of up to 6 orders of magnitude. While flavor-active aldehydes, ketones, and organic acids were analyzed after derivatization with 3-nitrophenylhydrazine, taste-active polyphenols and odor-active esters were directly analyzed by means of UHPLC-MS/MS with and without target analyte enrichment through stir-bar sorptive extraction. This "unified flavor quantitation" approach holds promise to accelerate the transition of today's labor and time-consuming, low-throughput analysis of odorants and tastants into a new era of high-performance quantitation of key flavor molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Konrad Hofstetter
- Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular and Sensory Science , Technical University of Munich , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34 , D-85354 Freising , Germany
| | - Andreas Dunkel
- Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34 , D-85354 Freising , Germany
- Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry , Technical University of Munich , Gregor-Mendel-Straße 4 , D-85354 Freising , Germany
| | - Thomas Hofmann
- Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular and Sensory Science , Technical University of Munich , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34 , D-85354 Freising , Germany
- Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34 , D-85354 Freising , Germany
- Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry , Technical University of Munich , Gregor-Mendel-Straße 4 , D-85354 Freising , Germany
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21
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Primacy coding facilitates effective odor discrimination when receptor sensitivities are tuned. PLoS Comput Biol 2019; 15:e1007188. [PMID: 31323033 PMCID: PMC6692051 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2018] [Revised: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The olfactory system faces the difficult task of identifying an enormous variety of odors independent of their intensity. Primacy coding, where the odor identity is encoded by the receptor types that respond earliest, might provide a compact and informative representation that can be interpreted efficiently by the brain. In this paper, we analyze the information transmitted by a simple model of primacy coding using numerical simulations and statistical descriptions. We show that the encoded information depends strongly on the number of receptor types included in the primacy representation, but only weakly on the size of the receptor repertoire. The representation is independent of the odor intensity and the transmitted information is useful to perform typical olfactory tasks with close to experimentally measured performance. Interestingly, we find situations in which a smaller receptor repertoire is advantageous for discriminating odors. The model also suggests that overly sensitive receptor types could dominate the entire response and make the whole array useless, which allows us to predict how receptor arrays need to adapt to stay useful during environmental changes. Taken together, we show that primacy coding is more useful than simple binary and normalized coding, essentially because the sparsity of the odor representations is independent of the odor statistics, in contrast to the alternatives. Primacy coding thus provides an efficient odor representation that is independent of the odor intensity and might thus help to identify odors in the olfactory cortex. Humans can identify odors independent of their intensity. Experimental data suggest that this is accomplished by representing the odor identity by the earliest responding receptor types. Using theoretical modeling, we here show that such a primacy code outperforms alternative encodings and allows discriminating odors with close to experimentally measured performance. This performance depends strongly on the number of receptors considered in the primacy code, but the receptor repertoire size is less important. The model also suggests a strong evolutionary pressure on the receptor sensitivities, which could explain observed receptor copy number adaptations. By predicting psycho-physical experiments, the model will thus contribute to our understanding of the olfactory system.
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22
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Spence C, Wang QJ. On the Meaning(s) of Perceived Complexity in the Chemical Senses. Chem Senses 2019; 43:451-461. [PMID: 30010729 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Complexity is a term that is often invoked by those writing appreciatively about the taste, aroma/bouquet, and/or flavor of food and drink. Typically, the term is used as though everyone knows what is being talked about. Rarely is any explanation given, and the discussion soon moves on to other topics. However, oftentimes it is not at all clear what, exactly, is being referred to. A number of possibilities are outlined here, including physical complexity at the level of individual molecules, at the level of combinations of molecules giving rise to a specific flavor profile (e.g., as in a glass of quality wine or a cup of specialty coffee), at the level of combinations of distinct ingredients/elements (e.g., as when composing a particularly intricate dish in a high-end restaurant, say, or when pairing food with wine), and/or the number of stimuli/steps involved in the process of creation. Of course, people might also be referring to some aspect of their perceptual experience, and one of the intriguing questions in this space concerns the nature of the relationship(s) between these different ways of conceptualizing complexity in the chemical senses. However, given that physical/chemical and perceived complexity so often diverge, we argue that it is the latter notion, or rather inferred complexity, that is the most relevant when it comes to the chemical senses. Finally, we look at the role of expertise and review the evidence suggesting that inferred complexity can emerge either from a unitary taste experience that is judged to be complex, or from a tasting experience having multiple individuable elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Spence
- Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Oxford University, Anna Watts Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Qian Janice Wang
- Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Oxford University, Anna Watts Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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23
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Johnson AJ, Hjelmeland AK, Heymann H, Ebeler SE. GC-Recomposition-Olfactometry (GC-R) and multivariate study of three terpenoid compounds in the aroma profile of Angostura bitters. Sci Rep 2019; 9:7633. [PMID: 31113980 PMCID: PMC6529406 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44064-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Foods and beverage aroma results from multicomponent mixtures of volatile compounds present in the food that interact with olfactory receptors and produce a perceptual response in the brain. However, the perceptual interactions that occur when complex odor mixtures are combined are not well understood. Here we used Gas chromatography-Recomposition-Olfactometry (GC-R) to better understand the role that individual compounds have on the perceived sensory aroma of bitters. Bitters are the concentrated alcoholic extract of flavorful plant materials with a wide range of complex sensory and chemical aroma profiles that have not been extensively studied. Previously, we demonstrated that Angostura bitters are characterized by complex aroma attributes described as cola, ginger, orange peel, and black pepper and that the volatile composition of Angostura bitters is predominantly composed of terpenoids. Using GC-R to create in-instrument mixtures of the Angostura headspace extracts, the sensory attributes of Angostura extracts with linalool, α-terpinyl-acetate and caryophyllene omitted were evaluated. The omission experiments demonstrated direct and indirect effects of the individual compounds on the aroma attributes of Angostura bitters, through masking, additive, and synergistic interactions. Caryophyllene in particular, which was present in the headspace extracts at concentration only slightly above sensory threshold levels, had a large and unexpected impact on the sensory properties of the mixtures and may be most responsible for the aromas associated with the whole sample. The GC-R and statistical approaches used here provided valuable tools to reveal relationships among individual compounds and aroma attributes of foods that have not been currently theorized using existing analytical approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arielle J Johnson
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Anna K Hjelmeland
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Hildegarde Heymann
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Susan E Ebeler
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
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24
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Amsellem S, Höchenberger R, Ohla K. Visual-Olfactory Interactions: Bimodal Facilitation and Impact on the Subjective Experience. Chem Senses 2019. [PMID: 29528380 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Odors are inherently ambiguous and therefore susceptible to redundant sensory as well as context information. The identification of an odor object relies largely on visual input. Thus far, it is unclear whether visual and olfactory stimuli are indeed integrated at an early perceptual stage and which role the congruence between the visual and olfactory inputs plays. Previous studies on visual-olfactory interaction used either congruent or incongruent information, leaving it open whether nuances of visual-olfactory congruence shape perception differently. We aimed to answer 1) whether visual-olfactory information is integrated at early stages of processing, 2) whether visual-olfactory congruence is a gradual or dichotomous phenomenon, and 3) whether visual information influences bimodal stimulus evaluation and odor identity. We found a bimodal response time speedup that is consistent with parallel processing according to race models. Subjectively, pleasantness of bimodal stimuli increased with increasing congruence, and orange images biased odor composition toward orange. Visual-olfactory congruence was perceived in gradual and distinct categories, consistent with the notion that congruence is a gradual phenomenon. Together, the data provide evidence for bimodal facilitation consistent with parallel processing of the visual and olfactory stimuli, and that visual-olfactory interactions influence various levels of the subjective experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherlley Amsellem
- Psychophysiology of Food Perception, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Arthur-Scheunert Allee, Nuthetal, Germany
| | - Richard Höchenberger
- Psychophysiology of Food Perception, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Arthur-Scheunert Allee, Nuthetal, Germany
| | - Kathrin Ohla
- Psychophysiology of Food Perception, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Arthur-Scheunert Allee, Nuthetal, Germany
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25
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26
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Spence C. Complexity on the Menu and in the Meal. Foods 2018; 7:foods7100158. [PMID: 30261689 PMCID: PMC6209977 DOI: 10.3390/foods7100158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2018] [Revised: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 09/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Complexity is generally perceived to be a desirable attribute as far as the design/delivery of food and beverage experiences is concerned. However, that said, there are many different kinds of complexity, or at least people use the term when talking about quite different things, and not all of them are relevant to the design of food and drink experiences nor are they all necessarily perceptible within the tasting experience (either in the moment or over time). Consequently, the consumer often needs to infer the complexity of a tasting experience that is unlikely to be perceptible (in its entirety) in the moment. This paper outlines a number of different routes by which the chef, mixologist, and/or blender can both design and signal the complexity in the tasting experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Spence
- Department of Experimental Psychology, New Radcliffe House, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6BW, UK.
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27
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Weiss K, Vickers Z. Evaluation of omission testing as a method for identifying important odorants in a mixture. J SENS STUD 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/joss.12460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten Weiss
- Department of Food Science and Nutrition; University of Minnesota; St. Paul Minnesota
| | - Zata Vickers
- Department of Food Science and Nutrition; University of Minnesota; St. Paul Minnesota
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28
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Wine tasting based on emotional responses: An expedite approach to distinguish between warm and cool climate dry red wine styles. Food Res Int 2018; 106:11-21. [DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2017.12.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Revised: 12/02/2017] [Accepted: 12/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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29
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Parr WV. Demystifying wine tasting: Cognitive psychology's contribution. Food Res Int 2018; 124:230-233. [PMID: 31466645 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.03.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Revised: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 03/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Over recent decades, cognitive psychology has made a significant contribution to our understanding of wine-tasting phenomena. At the most fundamental level the discipline's contribution has made us aware that even an apparently 'simple' judgment, such as noting that a wine's odour reflects over-ripe fruit, involves not just our nose but sophisticated cognitive processing. With its information-processing model of how people interact with their surrounding world, and its methodologies and theories regarding how we perceive, conceptualise, remember, image, make judgments, and communicate our experiences, cognitive psychology has markedly advanced our understanding of wine tasting and wine tasters. This review highlights notable wine sensory research outcomes that make evident the importance of a taster's cognitive processes in their wine analysis and appreciation. These include data providing evidence for colour-flavour perceptual bias, prototypical thinking, knowledge-based wine judgments, the close links between olfactory memory, autobiographical memory and emotion, and the notion of wine expertise. Further, it will be argued that such data demonstrate how a consensus model, still dominant in much wine sensory analysis, is limited at best and inappropriate for sensory analysis of complex products such as wine in many contexts. Critical to this argument is appreciating that differences amongst tasters, reflecting each individual's physiology, experience and knowledge, are valid data in themselves rather than 'error in the machine' as they were conceptualised within traditional consensus models of sensory analysis. The article terminates with reference to a promise for even greater understanding of wine tasting phenomena that the future offers by links between cognitive psychology's behavioural data and recent technological advances in neuropsychology and neurophysiology (e.g., cerebral imaging techniques).
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Affiliation(s)
- Wendy V Parr
- Department of Wine, Food & Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of AGLS, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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30
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31
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Abstract
Humans can identify visual objects independently of view angle and lighting, words independently of volume and pitch, and smells independently of concentration. The computational principles underlying invariant object recognition remain mostly unknown. Here we propose that, in olfaction, a small and relatively stable set comprised of the earliest activated receptors forms a code for concentration-invariant odor identity. One prediction of this “primacy coding” scheme is that decisions based on odor identity can be made solely using early odor-evoked neural activity. Using an optogenetic masking paradigm, we define the sensory integration time necessary for odor identification and demonstrate that animals can use information occurring <100 ms after inhalation onset to identify odors. Using multi-electrode array recordings of odor responses in the olfactory bulb, we find that concentration-invariant units respond earliest and at latencies that are within this behaviorally-defined time window. We propose a computational model demonstrating how such a code can be read by neural circuits of the olfactory system. Odor identity remains stable despite changes in concentration yet the neural mechanisms are relatively unknown. Here the authors test a primacy coding model using an optogenetic masking paradigm in mice to show that a set of earliest activated receptors are sufficient to make decisions about odor identity across concentrations.
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32
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Romagny S, Coureaud G, Thomas-Danguin T. Key odorants or key associations? Insights into elemental and configural odour processing. FLAVOUR FRAG J 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ffj.3429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sébastien Romagny
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRA, CNRS, AgroSup Dijon; Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
| | - Gérard Coureaud
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRA, CNRS, AgroSup Dijon; Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
| | - Thierry Thomas-Danguin
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, INRA, CNRS, AgroSup Dijon; Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
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33
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Costa P, Teixeira MA, Mestre G, Carneiro L, Loureiro JM, Rodrigues AE. Predicting Vapor-Phase Concentrations for the Assessment of the Odor Perception of Fragrance Chemicals Diluted in Mineral Oil. Ind Eng Chem Res 2017. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.7b01802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrícia Costa
- Laboratory of Separation
and Reaction Engineering−Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials
(LSRE−LCM), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Miguel A. Teixeira
- Laboratory of Separation
and Reaction Engineering−Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials
(LSRE−LCM), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Gabriel Mestre
- IUT Lyon, Villeurbanne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 69622, France
| | - Luísa Carneiro
- Laboratory of Separation
and Reaction Engineering−Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials
(LSRE−LCM), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - José Miguel Loureiro
- Laboratory of Separation
and Reaction Engineering−Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials
(LSRE−LCM), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Alírio E. Rodrigues
- Laboratory of Separation
and Reaction Engineering−Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials
(LSRE−LCM), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
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Abstract
The olfactory system removes correlations in natural odors using a network of inhibitory neurons in the olfactory bulb. It has been proposed that this network integrates the response from all olfactory receptors and inhibits them equally. However, how such global inhibition influences the neural representations of odors is unclear. Here, we study a simple statistical model of the processing in the olfactory bulb, which leads to concentration-invariant, sparse representations of the odor composition. We show that the inhibition strength can be tuned to obtain sparse representations that are still useful to discriminate odors that vary in relative concentration, size, and composition. The model reveals two generic consequences of global inhibition: (i) odors with many molecular species are more difficult to discriminate and (ii) receptor arrays with heterogeneous sensitivities perform badly. Comparing these predictions to experiments will help us to understand the role of global inhibition in shaping normalized odor representations in the olfactory bulb.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Zwicker
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States of America
- Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Amsellem S, Ohla K. Perceived Odor-Taste Congruence Influences Intensity and Pleasantness Differently. Chem Senses 2016; 41:677-84. [PMID: 27384192 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjw078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of congruence in cross-modal interactions has received little attention. In most experiments involving cross-modal pairs, congruence is conceived of as a binary process according to which cross-modal pairs are categorized as perceptually and/or semantically matching or mismatching. The present study investigated whether odor-taste congruence can be perceived gradually and whether congruence impacts other facets of subjective experience, that is, intensity, pleasantness, and familiarity. To address these questions, we presented food odorants (chicken, orange, and 3 mixtures of the 2) and tastants (savory-salty and sour-sweet) in pairs varying in congruence. Participants were to report the perceived congruence of the pairs along with intensity, pleasantness, and familiarity. We found that participants could perceive distinct congruence levels, thereby favoring a multilevel account of congruence perception. In addition, familiarity and pleasantness followed the same pattern as the congruence while intensity was highest for the most congruent and the most incongruent pairs whereas intensities of the intermediary-congruent pairs were reduced. Principal component analysis revealed that pleasantness and familiarity form one dimension of the phenomenological experience of odor-taste pairs that was orthogonal to intensity. The results bear implications for the understanding the behavioral underpinnings of perseverance of habitual food choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherlley Amsellem
- Psychophysiology of Food Perception, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114-116, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany
| | - Kathrin Ohla
- Psychophysiology of Food Perception, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114-116, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany
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36
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Bell JS, Wilson RI. Behavior Reveals Selective Summation and Max Pooling among Olfactory Processing Channels. Neuron 2016; 91:425-38. [PMID: 27373835 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2016] [Revised: 03/28/2016] [Accepted: 06/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The olfactory system is divided into processing channels (glomeruli), each receiving input from a different type of olfactory receptor neuron (ORN). Here we investigated how glomeruli combine to control behavior in freely walking Drosophila. We found that optogenetically activating single ORN types typically produced attraction, although some ORN types produced repulsion. Attraction consisted largely of a behavioral program with the following rules: at fictive odor onset, flies walked upwind, and at fictive odor offset, they reversed. When certain pairs of attractive ORN types were co-activated, the level of the behavioral response resembled the sum of the component responses. However, other pairs of attractive ORN types produced a response resembling the larger component (max pooling). Although activation of different ORN combinations produced different levels of behavior, the rules of the behavioral program were consistent. Our results illustrate a general method for inferring how groups of neurons work together to modulate behavioral programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph S Bell
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rachel I Wilson
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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El Mountassir F, Belloir C, Briand L, Thomas-Danguin T, Le Bon AM. Encoding odorant mixtures by human olfactory receptors. FLAVOUR FRAG J 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ffj.3331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fouzia El Mountassir
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRA; Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
| | - Christine Belloir
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRA; Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
| | - Loïc Briand
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRA; Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
| | - Thierry Thomas-Danguin
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRA; Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
| | - Anne-Marie Le Bon
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRA; Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté; F-21000 Dijon France
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38
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Costa P, Teixeira MA, Lièvre Y, Loureiro JM, Rodrigues AE. Modeling Fragrance Components Release from a Simplified Matrix Used in Toiletries and Household Products. Ind Eng Chem Res 2015. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b03852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrícia Costa
- Laboratório Associado
LSRE-LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Miguel A. Teixeira
- Laboratório Associado
LSRE-LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Yohan Lièvre
- Laboratório Associado
LSRE-LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - José Miguel Loureiro
- Laboratório Associado
LSRE-LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Alírio E. Rodrigues
- Laboratório Associado
LSRE-LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
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39
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Loos HM, Doucet S, Soussignan R, Hartmann C, Durand K, Dittrich R, Sagot P, Buettner A, Schaal B. Responsiveness of human neonates to the odor of 5α-androst-16-en-3-one: a behavioral paradox? Chem Senses 2015; 39:693-703. [PMID: 25217699 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bju041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The odorous steroid 5α-androst-16-en-3-one (AND) occurs in numerous biological fluids in mammals, including man, where it is believed to play a chemocommunicative role. As AND was recently detected in milk and amniotic fluid, sensitivity and hedonic responses to this substance were assessed in human neonates. To this aim, respiration and facial expressions were recorded in 3-day-old newborns in response to aqueous solutions of AND, ranging from 500ng/mL to 0.5 fg/mL. Although analyses of respiratory rate did not lead to clear-cut results, the newborns changed their facial expressions at concentrations not detected by adults in a triangle test. Newborns displayed negative facial actions of longer duration to AND relative to an odorless control. Thus, AND may be considered to be offensive to newborns, which is a counterintuitive outcome as they are exposed to this compound in the womb (and it should therefore be familiar), in milk, and on the mother's skin surface (and it should therefore be conditioned as positive). Multiple reasons for this perceptual-behavioral paradox are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helene M Loos
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS-Université de Bourgogne, 9E boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Emil Fischer Center, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schuhstraße 9, 91052 Erlangen, Germany, Department of Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Giggenhauser Straße 35, 85354 Freising, Germany,
| | - Sébastien Doucet
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS-Université de Bourgogne, 9E boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Emil Fischer Center, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schuhstraße 9, 91052 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Robert Soussignan
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS-Université de Bourgogne, 9E boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Constanze Hartmann
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Emil Fischer Center, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schuhstraße 9, 91052 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Karine Durand
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS-Université de Bourgogne, 9E boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Ralf Dittrich
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Universitätsstraße 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany and
| | - Paul Sagot
- Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Reproductive Biology, University Hospital Dijon, 1 boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21079 Dijon, France
| | - Andrea Buettner
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Emil Fischer Center, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schuhstraße 9, 91052 Erlangen, Germany, Department of Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Giggenhauser Straße 35, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Benoist Schaal
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Group, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS-Université de Bourgogne, 9E boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France
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40
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Romagny S, Thomas-Danguin T, Coureaud G. Configural processing of odor mixture: Does the learning of elements prevent the perception of configuration in the newborn rabbit? Physiol Behav 2015; 142:161-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.02.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2014] [Revised: 02/04/2015] [Accepted: 02/10/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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41
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Johnson AJ, Heymann H, Ebeler SE. Volatile and sensory profiling of cocktail bitters. Food Chem 2015; 179:343-54. [PMID: 25722175 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.01.114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2014] [Revised: 01/12/2015] [Accepted: 01/26/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Aromatic cocktail bitters are derived from the alcoholic extraction of a variety of plant materials and are used as additives in mixed drinks to enhance aroma and flavor. In this study sixteen commercial bitters were analyzed using volatile (GC-MS) and sensory profiling and multivariate statistics including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS). The samples differed significantly in their citrus, celery, and spice characteristics. 148 volatile compounds were tentatively identified and the composition varied significantly with the type of bitters sample evaluated. PLS analysis showed that the volatile data correlated well overall to the sensory data, explaining 60% of the overall variability in the dataset. Primary aldehydes and phenylpropanoids were most closely related to green and spice-related sensory descriptors. However, the sensory impact of terpenoid compounds was difficult to predict in many cases. This may be due to the wide range of aroma qualities associated with terpenes as well as to concentration, synergistic or masking effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arielle J Johnson
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Hildegarde Heymann
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Susan E Ebeler
- Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
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42
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Kiatbenjakul P, Intarapichet KO, Cadwallader KR. Characterization of potent odorants in male giant water bug (Lethocerus indicus Lep. and Serv.), an important edible insect of Southeast Asia. Food Chem 2015; 168:639-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.07.108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2014] [Revised: 06/18/2014] [Accepted: 07/22/2014] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
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43
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Abstract
Olfaction has often been described as a ‘synthetic’ sense. A study now reveals a surprising capacity to resolve individual odorants in complex mixtures, with implications for how the nervous system recognizes objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy E Holy
- Department of Anatomy &Neurobiology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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44
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An olfactory cocktail party: figure-ground segregation of odorants in rodents. Nat Neurosci 2014; 17:1225-32. [PMID: 25086608 PMCID: PMC4146660 DOI: 10.1038/nn.3775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2014] [Accepted: 07/03/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In odorant-rich environments, animals must be able to detect specific odorants of interest against variable backgrounds. However, several studies have suggested that both humans and rodents are very poor at analyzing the components of odorant mixtures, leading to the idea that olfaction is a synthetic sense in which mixtures are perceived holistically. We have developed a behavioral task to directly measure the ability of mice to perceive mixture components and found that mice can be easily trained to detect target odorants embedded in unpredictable and variable mixtures. We imaged the responses of olfactory bulb glomeruli to the individual odors used in the task in mice expressing the Ca++ indicator GCaMP3 in olfactory receptor neurons. By relating behavioral performance to the glomerular response patterns, we found that the difficulty of segregating the target from the background was strongly dependent on the extent of overlap between the representations of the target and the background odors by olfactory receptors. Our study indicates that the olfactory system has powerful analytic abilities that are constrained by the limits of combinatorial neural representation of odorants at the level of the olfactory receptors.
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45
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Crossmodal correspondences between odors and contingent features: odors, musical notes, and geometrical shapes. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 20:878-96. [PMID: 23463615 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-013-0397-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Olfactory experiences represent a domain that is particularly rich in crossmodal associations. Whereas associations between odors and tastes, or other properties of their typical sources such as color or temperature, can be straightforwardly explained by associative learning, other matchings are much harder to explain in these terms, yet surprisingly are shared across individuals: The majority of people, for instance, associate certain odors and auditory features, such as pitch (Belkin, Martin, Kemp, & Gilbert, Psychological Science 8:340-342, 1997; Crisinel & Spence, Chemical Senses 37:151-158, 2012b) or geometrical shapes (Hanson-Vaux, Crisinel, & Spence, Chemical Senses 38:161-166, 2013; Seo, Arshamian, et al., Neuroscience Letters 478:175-178, 2010). If certain odors might indeed have been encountered while listening to certain pieces of music or seeing certain geometrical shapes, these encounters are very unlikely to have been statistically more relevant than others; for this reason, associative learning from regular exposure is ruled out, and thus alternative explanations in terms of metaphorical mappings are usually defended. Here we argue that these associations are not primarily conceptual or linguistic, but are grounded in structural perceptual or neurological determinants. These cases of crossmodal correspondences established between contingent environmental features can be explained as amodal, indirect, and transitive mappings across modalities. Surprising associations between odors and contingent sensory features can be investigated as genuine cases of crossmodal correspondences, akin to other widespread cases of functional correspondences that hold, for instance, between auditory and visual features, and can help reveal the structural determinants weighing on the acquisition of these crossmodal associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Szyszka
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
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47
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Dunkel A, Steinhaus M, Kotthoff M, Nowak B, Krautwurst D, Schieberle P, Hofmann T. Nature's chemical signatures in human olfaction: a foodborne perspective for future biotechnology. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2014; 53:7124-43. [PMID: 24939725 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201309508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 346] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2013] [Revised: 02/02/2014] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
The biocatalytic production of flavor naturals that determine chemosensory percepts of foods and beverages is an ever challenging target for academic and industrial research. Advances in chemical trace analysis and post-genomic progress at the chemistry-biology interface revealed odor qualities of nature's chemosensory entities to be defined by odorant-induced olfactory receptor activity patterns. Beyond traditional views, this review and meta-analysis now shows characteristic ratios of only about 3 to 40 genuine key odorants for each food, from a group of about 230 out of circa 10 000 food volatiles. This suggests the foodborn stimulus space has co-evolved with, and roughly match our circa 400 olfactory receptors as best natural agonists. This perspective gives insight into nature's chemical signatures of smell, provides the chemical odor codes of more than 220 food samples, and beyond addresses industrial implications for producing recombinants that fully reconstruct the natural odor signatures for use in flavors and fragrances, fully immersive interactive virtual environments, or humanoid bioelectronic noses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Dunkel
- Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science, Technische Universität München, Lise-Meitnerstrasse 34, 85354 Freising-Weihenstephan (Germany)
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48
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Dunkel A, Steinhaus M, Kotthoff M, Nowak B, Krautwurst D, Schieberle P, Hofmann T. Genuine Geruchssignaturen der Natur – Perspektiven aus der Lebensmittelchemie für die Biotechnologie. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2014. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201309508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Dunkel
- Lehrstuhl für Lebensmittelchemie und molekulare Sensorik, Technische Universität München, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
| | - Martin Steinhaus
- Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie – Leibniz Institut, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
| | - Matthias Kotthoff
- Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie – Leibniz Institut, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
| | - Bettina Nowak
- Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie – Leibniz Institut, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
| | - Dietmar Krautwurst
- Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie – Leibniz Institut, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
| | - Peter Schieberle
- Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie – Leibniz Institut, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
| | - Thomas Hofmann
- Lehrstuhl für Lebensmittelchemie und molekulare Sensorik, Technische Universität München, Lise‐Meitner‐Straße 34, 85354 Freising‐Weihenstephan (Deutschland)
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49
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Thomas-Danguin T, Sinding C, Romagny S, El Mountassir F, Atanasova B, Le Berre E, Le Bon AM, Coureaud G. The perception of odor objects in everyday life: a review on the processing of odor mixtures. Front Psychol 2014; 5:504. [PMID: 24917831 PMCID: PMC4040494 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2014] [Accepted: 05/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Smelling monomolecular odors hardly ever occurs in everyday life, and the daily functioning of the sense of smell relies primarily on the processing of complex mixtures of volatiles that are present in the environment (e.g., emanating from food or conspecifics). Such processing allows for the instantaneous recognition and categorization of smells and also for the discrimination of odors among others to extract relevant information and to adapt efficiently in different contexts. The neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning this highly efficient analysis of complex mixtures of odorants is beginning to be unraveled and support the idea that olfaction, as vision and audition, relies on odor-objects encoding. This configural processing of odor mixtures, which is empirically subject to important applications in our societies (e.g., the art of perfumers, flavorists, and wine makers), has been scientifically studied only during the last decades. This processing depends on many individual factors, among which are the developmental stage, lifestyle, physiological and mood state, and cognitive skills; this processing also presents striking similarities between species. The present review gathers the recent findings, as observed in animals, healthy subjects, and/or individuals with affective disorders, supporting the perception of complex odor stimuli as odor objects. It also discusses peripheral to central processing, and cognitive and behavioral significance. Finally, this review highlights that the study of odor mixtures is an original window allowing for the investigation of daily olfaction and emphasizes the need for knowledge about the underlying biological processes, which appear to be crucial for our representation and adaptation to the chemical environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thierry Thomas-Danguin
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS UMR6265, INRA UMR1324, Université de Bourgogne Dijon, France
| | - Charlotte Sinding
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngoly TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Sébastien Romagny
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS UMR6265, INRA UMR1324, Université de Bourgogne Dijon, France
| | - Fouzia El Mountassir
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS UMR6265, INRA UMR1324, Université de Bourgogne Dijon, France
| | | | | | - Anne-Marie Le Bon
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS UMR6265, INRA UMR1324, Université de Bourgogne Dijon, France
| | - Gérard Coureaud
- Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS UMR6265, INRA UMR1324, Université de Bourgogne Dijon, France
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50
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Schütze M, Negoias S, Olsson M, Hummel T. Perceptual and processing differences between physical and dichorhinic odor mixtures. Neuroscience 2014; 258:84-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.10.079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2013] [Revised: 10/31/2013] [Accepted: 10/31/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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