INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN OLFACTION

嗅觉在个体对压力的反应中起着关键作用 环境。气味会影响空气质量的评估，并有助于 作为警示人员。气味也起到了食欲或接近的作用 刺激物。它们在味觉中具有相当重要的作用 并指导食物选择，影响人们对健康和情绪的看法 它们可以引起对人、地方或事物的接近或回避。 在每一种情况下，个人都有能力 对气味环境的感知将决定做出的反应。 相当多的证据支持这样一种说法，即持续接触 短期内的气味会降低对此的敏感度 气味，或适应。嗅觉的实验室研究 在接触气味后，通常表现出敏感度降低或 对气味的感知强度；然而，恰好可以发生相反的情况； 暴露在空气中会使个体变得敏感。此外，还有相当多的 人们对气味感知的变化。基因，环境， 感觉和认知因素都相互作用来产生和改变这一点 变种。已经设计并实施了探索嗅觉的研究 在这些水平的人类和其他动物(作为模型系统)中 分析的能力。这项拟议的研究有其心理物理基础， 电生理学、神经解剖学和遗传学研究进展 试图揭示嗅觉的潜在机制。这种方法是基于 在这样的前提下，对自然变异的极端研究可以导致 了解嗅觉的正常过程。 无法闻到不同的气味(特殊的嗅觉障碍)提供了 为我们的研究奠定了特定的基础。导致特殊嗅觉障碍的原因是 不知道，但可能有遗传成分，以此类推 对于色盲，特定的嗅觉障碍是由基因缺陷引起的 编码嗅觉受体蛋白。然而，与颜色形成对比的是 失明，这是一生中稳定的，特殊的嗅觉障碍可以 通过暴露在气味中而逆转。 利用心理物理学和神经解剖学，拟议的研究将 确定(I)诱导的气味敏感度是否与正常不同 嗅觉，(Ii)一旦敏感，是否出现相同的气味质量 对其和相关化合物有诱导作用，(Iii)是否有 可阻隔气味的无味化合物，(Iv)在 特异型嗅觉丧失模型，确定大脑中的某些区域 受嗅觉缺失逆转的影响，以及(V)定位 嗅觉神经元的群体，为被激活的 大脑的各个区域。

Olfaction plays a key role in an individual's response to the environment. Odors can influence the assessment of air quality and serve as warning agents. Odors also play a role as appetitive or approach stimuli. They have considerable importance in the perception of flavor and guiding food choice, they influence perceptions of health and mood and they can elicit approach or avoidance of people, places or things. In each of these situations an individual's personal capabilities to perceive the odor environment will determine the response that is made. Considerable evidence supports the claim that continued exposure to odorants in the short-term produces a reduction in sensitivity to that odorant, or adaptation. Laboratory studies of olfactory perception following odorant exposure typically show a reduction in sensitivity or perceived intensity to the odorant; however, just the reverse can occur; exposure can sensitize individuals. Furthermore, there is considerable variation in the perception of odors by people. Genes, environmental, sensory and cognitive factors all interact to produce and modify this variation. Research has been designed and executed to explore olfaction in humans and other animals (as model systems) at each of these levels of analysis. The proposed research has its foundation in psychophysical, electrophysiological, neuroanatomical and genetic strategies in an attempt to reveal mechanisms underlying olfaction. The approach is based on the premise that studies of the extremes of natural variation can lead to an understanding of the normal processess underlying olfaction. Inability to smell different odors (specific anosmias) provides the specific foundation for our studies. The causes of specific anosmia are not known, but may have a genetic component, suggesting that, by analogy to color blindness, specific anosmia results from defects in the genes encoding the olfactory receptor proteins. However, in contrast to color blindness, which is stable throughout life, specific anosmias can be reversed by exposure to the odorant. Using psychophysics and neuroanatomy, the proposed research will determine (i) whether induced sensitivity to odors differs from normal olfaction, (ii) whether the same odor quality emerges once sensitivity to it and related compounds has been induced, (iii) whether there are any non-odorous compounds that can block the perception of odors, (iv) in a model of specific anosmia, determine some of the regions in the brain that are affected by reversal of the anosmia, and (v) to localize the population of olfactory neurons that provide the input into the activated regions of brain.