Spatiotemporal Coding in the Human Olfactory System

Northwestern University At Chicago, Evanston IL

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is increasingly clear that olfactory perception is impaired in a wide variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. However, this growing clinical appreciation for the human sense of smell is offset by a poor basic understanding of its anatomy and physiology. Even the most fundamental assumptions remain unexplored: Is the human olfactory pathway really ipsilateral? Where exactly is primary olfactory cortex? How fast is odor information transmitted through the human olfactory brain? The major aim of this exploratory research project is to investigate odor-evoked patterns of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity directly from the surface of the human brain in patients with medically intractable epilepsy and to map the olfactory cortex with electrical cortical stimulation and cortico-cortical evoked potentials. The highly accurate placement of a high-density invasive electrode array around the temporal and orbitofrontal cortices during standard surgical exploration offers a unique window into the functional anatomy of the olfactory system which has been largely unexplored. Work proposed here will yield a more comprehensive basic understanding of human olfaction, help in diagnosis and prediction of functional outcome in epilepsy patients, and open up new avenues for monitoring disease onset and progression in other neurological disorders involving the sense of smell.