Smelling Time: A Neural Basis for Olfactory Scene Analysis

Barry W Ache; Andrew M Hein; Yuriy V Bobkov; Jose C Principe

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2016.08.002

Smelling Time: A Neural Basis for Olfactory Scene Analysis

Trends Neurosci. 2016 Oct;39(10):649-655. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2016.08.002.

Authors

Barry W Ache¹, Andrew M Hein², Yuriy V Bobkov³, Jose C Principe⁴

Affiliations

¹ 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.
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
³ Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences, Center for Smell and Taste, and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Center for Smell and Taste, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: encoding time; olfaction; scene analysis.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Humans
Odorants
Olfactory Pathways / physiology*
Olfactory Receptor Neurons / metabolism*
Periodicity*
Smell / physiology*
Time Factors

Grants and funding

R21 DC011859/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/United States