Brief Communication abstract
Nature Neuroscience 10, 27 - 29 (2007)
Published online: 17 December 2006 | Corrected online: 4 January 2007 | doi:10.1038/nn1819
There is a Corrigendum (February 2007) associated with this Brief Communication.
Mechanisms of scent-tracking in humans
Jess Porter1, Brent Craven2, Rehan M Khan3,4, Shao-Ju Chang5, Irene Kang5, Benjamin Judkewitz3, Jason Volpe2, Gary Settles2 & Noam Sobel1,3,4,5,6
Whether mammalian scent-tracking is aided by inter-nostril comparisons is unknown. We assessed this in humans and found that (i) humans can scent-track, (ii) they improve with practice, (iii) the human nostrils sample spatially distinct regions separated by 
3.5 cm and, critically, (iv) scent-tracking is aided by inter-nostril comparisons. These findings reveal fundamental mechanisms of scent-tracking and suggest that the poor reputation of human olfaction may reflect, in part, behavioral demands rather than ultimate abilities.
- 299 Life Science Addition, MC 3200, Program in Biophysics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
- Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA.
- Program in Bioengineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
- Department of Neurobiology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Correspondence to: Jess Porter1 e-mail: jessiep@berkeley.edu
Correspondence to: Noam Sobel1,3,4,5,6 e-mail: noam.sobel@weizmann.ac.il
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