Nature Neuroscience
6, 196 - 202 (2003)
Published online: 21 January 2003; | doi:10.1038/nn1001
Dissociated neural representations of intensity and valence in human olfactionA.K. Anderson1, 2, K. Christoff2, I. Stappen3, D. Panitz2, D. G. Ghahremani2, G. Glover4, J.D.E. Gabrieli2
& N. Sobel1, 51
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, 349 Mulford Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
2
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, 420 Jordan Hall, Stanford, California 94305, USA
3
Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14 A-1090 Vienna, Austria
4
Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, California 94305, USA
5
Department of Psychology, 3210 Tolman Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to A.K. Anderson adam.k.anderson@stanford.edu or N. Sobel nsobel@socrates.berkeley.eduAffective experience has been described in terms of two primary dimensions: intensity and valence. In the human brain, it is intrinsically difficult to dissociate the neural coding of these affective dimensions for visual and auditory stimuli, but such dissociation is more readily achieved in olfaction, where intensity and valence can be manipulated independently. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we found amygdala activation to be associated with intensity, and not valence, of odors. Activity in regions of orbitofrontal cortex, in contrast, were associated with valence independent of intensity. These findings show that distinct olfactory regions subserve the analysis of the degree and quality of olfactory stimulation, suggesting that the affective representations of intensity and valence draw upon dissociable neural substrates.
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