A Specialized Odor Memory Buffer in Primary Olfactory Cortex

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 4; no. 3; p. e4965
• Main Authors: Zelano, Christina, Montag, Jessica, Khan, Rehan, Sobel, Noam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 23.03.2009; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aroma compounds; Brain; Brain Mapping; Cortex (olfactory); Cortex (somatosensory); Dissociation; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Language; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical imaging; Memory; Memory - physiology; Neurobiology; Neuroimaging; Neuroscience/Behavioral Neuroscience; Neuroscience/Psychology; Neuroscience/Sensory Systems; Neurosciences; Odorants; Odors; Olfactory Pathways - anatomy & histology; Olfactory Pathways - physiology; Olfactory Perception - physiology; Phonetics; Prefrontal cortex; Reaction Time; Sensory evaluation; Short term memory; Smell - physiology; Somatosensory cortex; Sprachbund; Studies; Substrates; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004965

The neural substrates of olfactory working memory are unknown. We addressed the questions of whether olfactory working memory involves a verbal representation of the odor, or a sensory image of the odor, or both, and the location of the neural substrates of these processes. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure activity in the brains of subjects who were remembering either nameable or unnameable odorants. We found a double dissociation whereby remembering nameable odorants was reflected in sustained activity in prefrontal language areas, and remembering unnameable odorants was reflected in sustained activity in primary olfactory cortex. These findings suggest a novel dedicated mechanism in primary olfactory cortex, where odor information is maintained in temporary storage to subserve ongoing tasks.