Functional Activity of the Central Olfactory Pathways

ABSTRACT

Olfactory processing involves a large number of central olfactory structures, interconnected with each other in complex fashion, and incorporating both feed forward and feed back interaction. Thus understanding how these structures in odor acquisition, perception, and memory perform functional roles is a central question in olfactory disorders that can only be addressed using a combination of approaches, including neuroimaging, neurophysiology and behavioral analyses. Recent whole-brain imaging studies have shown that multiple diverse neural structures become activated during tasks involving olfactory stimulation. This article reviews the current understanding of anatomy, sensory physiology of central olfactory structures. Especially the sensory physiology of main olfactory bulb, pyriform cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex will be emphasized here.