Synonyms
Odor memory; Odor familiarity; Odor expertise
Definition
Perceptual learning is an improvement through experience in the ability or potential ability to detect and/or discriminate sensory stimuli. Perceptual learning can be demonstrated in nearly all sensory systems, for example through the enhanced ability of musicians to identify or discriminate musical notes, or of visual artists to identify similar colors. In the sense of smell, most odors experienced in nature or everyday life are complex mixtures of many different odorantmolecules. Being able to discriminate these different mixtures from each other is one of the main functions of the olfactory system. In mammals, recognition and discrimination of such odors appears to involve an initial analysis of the inhaled stimulus into its component molecular and submolecular features, and a subsequent merging of those features into a unitary odor object, such as “coffee” or “rose.” As odors become more familiar, both the encoding...
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References
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Wilson, D.A., Bell, H., Chen, CF. (2009). Olfactory Perceptual Learning. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_4193
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_4193
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