The Structure of Olfactory Neural and Perceptual Spaces

项目概要（项目4：嗅觉神经和感知空间的结构） 目前尚不清楚刺激驱动的神经活动如何导致感知。虽然这个问题通常 从前馈的角度来看-刺激是系统地变化的神经活动和感知 嗅觉系统构成了一个特殊的挑战，因为分子刺激空间， 神经反应并不明确。在这里，我们提出了一种替代方法：而不是从 鼻子里的感受器，我们建议从感知反向工作。也就是说，我们将利用各种 概念和技术创新，以构建一种新型的“标尺”，使我们能够准确地测量 气味之间的感知距离，然后使用此标尺全面绘制出 感知气味空间，首先在人类，然后在小鼠。与此同时，我们将利用神经科学的进步， 成像技术，让我们第一次接触到清醒的老鼠大脑皮层对气味的反应。 重要的初步数据表明，梨状皮质具有系统的和不变的 气味空间的表征，并且该空间与气味之间的感知关系相关。通过 通过评估大脑皮层和知觉对同一组气味的反应，这些实验将揭示 关于气味化学的信息在皮层中组织，以及这些信息如何与感知有关， 在老鼠和人类身上。约束神经和感知气味空间的维度和结构， 一个系统和全面的方式，将揭示关键方面的输入输出功能的嗅觉 系统

Project Summary (Project 4: The structure of olfactory neural and perceptual spaces) It is not clear how stimulus-driven neural activity leads to perception. While this problem is typically approached from a feed-forward perspective — stimuli are systematically varied as neural activity and perception are monitored — the olfactory system poses a particular challenge, as the molecular stimulus space that drives neural responses is not well defined. Here we suggest an alternative approach: rather than working forward from receptors in the nose, we propose to work backwards from perception. That is, we will take advantage of a variety of conceptual and technical innovations to construct a new type of “ruler” that will allow us to accurately measure perceptual distances between odors, and then use this ruler to comprehensively map out the global structure of perceptual odor space, first in humans and then in mice. In parallel we will take advantage of advances in neural imaging technologies that give us, for the first time, access to cortical responses to odorants in awake mice. Important preliminary data demonstrates that the piriform cortex harbors a systematic and invariant representation of odor space, and that this space correlates with perceptual relationships amongst odors. By assessing both cortical and perceptual responses to the same odorant set, these experiments will reveal how information about odorant chemistry is organized in cortex, and how this information relates to perception, both in mice and in humans. Constraining the dimensionality and structure of neural and perceptual odor spaces, in a systematic and comprehensive fashion, will reveal key aspects of the input-output function of the olfactory system.