Recruitment of grid-like responses in human entorhinal and piriform cortices by odor landmark-based navigation.

ABSTRACT: Olfactory navigation is universal across the animal kingdom. Humans, however, have rarely been considered in this context. Here, we combined olfactometry techniques, virtual reality (VR) software, and neuroimaging methods to investigate whether humans can navigate an olfactory landscape by learning the spatial relationships among discrete odor cues and integrating this knowledge into a spatial map. Our data show that over time, participants improved their performance on the odor navigation task by taking more direct paths toward targets and completing more trials within a given time period. This suggests that humans can successfully navigate a complex odorous environment, reinforcing the notion of human olfactory navigation. fMRI data collected during the olfactory navigation task revealed

SUBMITTER: Raithel CU 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10510564 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature