Olfactory coding: when smells collide

Curr Biol. 2006 Dec 5;16(23):R1000-3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.10.045.

Abstract

Brain responses can significantly outlast sensory stimuli leading to potential ambiguity when responses overlap. Recent studies of locust olfaction found that the responses of individual second order projection neurons depend markedly on the previous few seconds' stimulus history; the population response, however, still conveys information about both temporal structure and odour identity.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Grasshoppers / physiology*
  • Odorants
  • Olfactory Receptor Neurons / physiology
  • Smell*