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Sniffing and smelling: separate subsystems in the human olfactory cortex

N Sobel¹, V Prabhakaran, J E Desmond

¹Program in Neuroscience, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. nsobel@leland.stanford.edu

|April 1, 1998

Summary

Sniffing, the act of smelling, activates distinct brain regions in humans, separate from those activated by odorants themselves. This research differentiates brain activation from olfactory exploration versus olfactory content.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Olfactory Neuroscience

Background:

Smell perception (olfaction) relies heavily on sniffing for stimulus transport in mammals.
Previous studies showed sniffing drives olfactory bulb activity and piriform cortex in animals.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if sniffing induces piriform cortex activation in humans using fMRI.
To differentiate brain activation caused by sniffing versus odorant perception.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity.
Participants underwent fMRI scans during sniffing (with and without odorants) and odorant perception without sniffing.

Main Results:

Sniffing, irrespective of odorant presence, activated the piriform cortex and orbito-frontal gyri.

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This sniff-induced activation stemmed from somatosensory stimulation via airflow.

Odorant perception, independent of sniffing, primarily activated lateral and anterior orbito-frontal gyri.

Conclusions:

Human olfaction involves distinct brain regions for exploration (sniffing) and content (smell).
This dissociation highlights a nuanced brain organization for processing olfactory information.