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Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure

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The process of olfaction, also known as the sense of smell, is a sophisticated chemical response system. The specialized sensory neurons that facilitate this process, known as olfactory receptor neurons, are situated in an upper segment of the nasal cavity, known as the olfactory epithelium. Olfactory sensory neurons are bipolar, with their dendrites extending from the epithelium's apex into the mucus that lines the nasal cavity. Airborne molecules, when inhaled, traverse the olfactory...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Live-cell Measurement of Odorant Receptor Activation Using a Real-time cAMP Assay

Live-cell Measurement of Odorant Receptor Activation Using a Real-time cAMP Assay

Published on: October 2, 2017

Smelling odors, understanding actions.

Federico Tubaldi¹, Luca Turella, Andrea C Pierno

¹University of Padua, Padua, Italy.

Social Neuroscience

|April 10, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The brain processes actions using multiple senses, including smell. This study found that smelling an object activates brain regions involved in action understanding, suggesting olfaction influences how we perceive actions.

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Last Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Live-cell Measurement of Odorant Receptor Activation Using a Real-time cAMP Assay

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Published on: October 2, 2017

Real-time In Vitro Monitoring of Odorant Receptor Activation by an Odorant in the Vapor Phase

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Published on: April 23, 2019

Constructing an Olfactometer for Rodent Olfactory Behavior Studies

Constructing an Olfactometer for Rodent Olfactory Behavior Studies

Published on: April 11, 2025

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Sensory Processing

Background:

Action understanding typically relies on visual and auditory cues.
The role of olfaction in action perception remains largely unexplored.
Multimodal integration is crucial for comprehensive sensory processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether olfactory cues influence brain regions involved in action understanding.
To determine if the sense of smell contributes to multimodal action representations.
To explore the neural basis of action perception beyond visual and auditory modalities.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity.
Participants observed actions involving objects that were either smelled or seen.
Brain responses to smelling an object during a grasping action were compared to a mimed grasp.

Main Results:

Activation was observed in temporal, parietal, and frontal brain areas when participants grasped a smelled object.
This neural activity differed significantly from observations of a mimed grasp.
Superadditive brain activity occurred when the action target-object was both seen and smelled, indicating synergistic sensory integration.

Conclusions:

Olfaction plays a significant role in action understanding.
The findings support the concept of multimodal action representations in the brain.
This research highlights the integration of smell in perceiving and understanding actions, extending beyond traditional visual and auditory processing.