Abstract
It is widely presumed that odor quality is a direct outcome of odorant structure, but human studies indicate that molecular knowledge of an odorant is not always sufficient to predict odor quality. Indeed, the same olfactory input may generate different odor percepts depending on prior learning and experience. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging with an olfactory paradigm of perceptual learning, we examined how sensory experience modifies odor perception and odor quality coding in the human brain. Prolonged exposure to a target odorant enhanced perceptual differentiation for odorants related in odor quality or functional group, an effect that was paralleled by learning-induced response increases in piriform cortex and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Critically, the magnitude of OFC activation predicted subsequent improvement in behavioral differentiation. Our findings suggest that neural representations of odor quality can be rapidly updated through mere perceptual experience, a mechanism that may underlie the development of odor perception.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1097-1108 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Neuron |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 21 2006 |
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders under Grant No. 1 K08 DC007653-01A1. We thank Ken A. Paller and Jane Plailly for fruitful discussions and James D. Howard for help with data collection.
Keywords
- SYSNEURO
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Neuroscience