Smelling Time: A Neural Basis for Olfactory Scene Analysis.
Behavioral evidence from phylogenetically diverse animals and from humans suggests that, by extracting temporal information inherent in the olfactory signal, olfaction is more involved in interpreting space and time than heretofore imagined. If this is the case, the olfactory system must have neural mechanisms capable of encoding time at intervals relevant to the turbulent odor world in which many animals live. Here, we review evidence that animals can use populations of rhythmically active or 'bursting' olfactory receptor neurons (bORNs) to extract and encode temporal information inherent in natural olfactory signals. We postulate that bORNs represent an unsuspected neural mechanism through which time can be accurately measured, and that 'smelling time' completes the requirements for true olfactory scene analysis.
Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences, Center for Smell and Taste, and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. Electronic address: bwa@whitney.ufl.edu.
Barry W
BW
Ache
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Andrew M
AM
Hein
Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences, Center for Smell and Taste, and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Yuriy V
YV
Bobkov
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Center for Smell and Taste, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Jose C
JC
Principe
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009812:Odorants; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010507:Periodicity; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
encoding time; olfaction; scene analysis