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Olfaction

Olfaction

The sense of smell is achieved through the activities of the olfactory system. It starts when an airborne odorant enters the nasal cavity and reaches olfactory epithelium (OE). The OE is protected by a thin layer of mucus, which also serves the purpose of dissolving more complex compounds into simpler chemical odorants. The size of the OE and the density of sensory neurons varies among species; in humans, the OE is only about 9-10 cm2.
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Humans detect odors with the help of specialized cells located in the upper part of the nasal cavity, called olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). ORNs possess hair-like structures called cilia, which are receptive to sensations from the inhaled air. When an odorant molecule binds to a specific receptor on the cell of the cilia, it leads to a series of events that ultimately cause the ORN to send electrical signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain through the olfactory nerves.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 5, 2026

Olfactory Context Dependent Memory: Direct Presentation of Odorants

Olfactory Context Dependent Memory: Direct Presentation of Odorants

Published on: September 18, 2018

Task-Dependent Behavioral Dynamics Make the Case for Temporal Integration in Multiple Strategies during Odor

Donald E Frederick^1,2, Austin Brown^2,3, Stephanie Tacopina²

¹Department of Psychology.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|March 25, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Rodents use longer sniffing times for odor identification in go/no-go (GNG) tasks compared to two-alternative choice (TAC) tasks, supporting temporal integration for better scent discrimination.

Keywords:

go/no-go odor discrimination olfactory behavior psychometric model temporal integration two-alternative choice

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Animal Behavior
Sensory Perception

Background:

Discrepancies in rodent olfactory decision-making research stem from task-dependent strategies.
The role of temporal integration in odor identification remains debated, with differing results from two-alternative choice (TAC) and go/no-go (GNG) tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how different behavioral tasks (GNG vs. TAC) influence odor sampling duration and performance in rats.
To determine if temporal integration, or extended sniffing, aids odor identification in both GNG and TAC tasks.

Main Methods:

Four experiments were conducted comparing GNG and TAC tasks in rats.
Behavioral variables including performance accuracy and odor sampling duration were systematically analyzed.

Main Results:

Rats exhibited longer odor sampling durations in the GNG task compared to the TAC task, regardless of prior task experience.
Performance was superior in the GNG task when rats were trained on only one task, but not when trained on both.
Extended sampling durations correlated with improved performance in both tasks, particularly for difficult odor discriminations, supporting temporal integration.

Conclusions:

Generalizing rodent sensory perception based on a single task can lead to inaccurate inferences.
Task design and training history significantly impact olfactory decision-making, highlighting the need for multiple task comparisons.
Rodents appear to utilize temporal integration, extending odor sampling up to approximately 0.5 seconds (2-6 sniffs), to enhance olfactory discrimination, especially for challenging stimuli.