RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Robust and Rapid Air-Borne Odor Tracking without Casting
JF eneuro
JO eneuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0102-15.2015
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0102-15.2015
VO 2
IS 6
A1 Urvashi Bhattacharyya
A1 Upinder Singh Bhalla
YR 2015
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/2/6/ENEURO.0102-15.2015.abstract
AB Casting behavior (zigzagging across an odor stream) is common in air/liquid-borne odor tracking in open fields; however, terrestrial odor localization often involves path selection in a familiar environment. To study this, we trained rats to run toward an odor source in a multi-choice olfactory arena with near-laminar airflow. We find that rather than casting, rats run directly toward an odor port, and if this is incorrect, they serially sample other sources. This behavior is consistent and accurate in the presence of perturbations, such as novel odors, background odor, unilateral nostril stitching, and turbulence. We developed a model that predicts that this run-and-scan tracking of air-borne odors is faster than casting, provided there are a small number of targets at known locations. Thus, the combination of best-guess target selection with fallback serial sampling provides a rapid and robust strategy for finding odor sources in familiar surroundings.