Central mechanisms of odour object perception.
Nat Rev Neurosci
; 11(9): 628-41, 2010 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20700142
ABSTRACT
The stimulus complexity of naturally occurring odours presents unique challenges for central nervous systems that are aiming to internalize the external olfactory landscape. One mechanism by which the brain encodes perceptual representations of behaviourally relevant smells is through the synthesis of different olfactory inputs into a unified perceptual experience--an odour object. Recent evidence indicates that the identification, categorization and discrimination of olfactory stimuli rely on the formation and modulation of odour objects in the piriform cortex. Convergent findings from human and rodent models suggest that distributed piriform ensemble patterns of olfactory qualities and categories are crucial for maintaining the perceptual constancy of ecologically inconstant stimuli.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Brain
/
Olfactory Perception
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Nat Rev Neurosci
Journal subject:
NEUROLOGIA
Year:
2010
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States