Experience induces functional reorganization in brain regions involved in odor imagery in perfumers

TLDR

Expertise in sensory domains demonstrates the brain’s capacity to adapt to environmental change, as illustrated by perfumers who claim a unique ability to generate olfactory mental images. The study aims to evaluate how this expertise affects brain regions involved in odor processing. Brain activity was measured in novice and experienced perfumers while they smelled or imagined odors. Olfactory imagery activates the primary olfactory cortex in all perfumers, and in professionals extensive practice reorganizes the posterior piriform cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and hippocampus, with activity negatively correlated with experience, explaining their extraordinary ability to imagine odors and create fragrances. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.; Hum Brain Mapp 2012.

Abstract

Abstract Areas of expertise that cultivate specific sensory domains reveal the brain's ability to adapt to environmental change. Perfumers are a small population who claim to have a unique ability to generate olfactory mental images. To evaluate the impact of this expertise on the brain regions involved in odor processing, we measured brain activity in novice and experienced (student and professional) perfumers while they smelled or imagined odors. We demonstrate that olfactory imagery activates the primary olfactory (piriform) cortex (PC) in all perfumers, demonstrating that similar neural substrates were activated in odor perception and imagination. In professional perfumers, extensive olfactory practice influences the posterior PC, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the hippocampus; during the creation of mental images of odors, the activity in these areas was negatively correlated with experience. Thus, the perfumers' expertise is associated with a functional reorganization of key olfactory and memory brain regions, explaining their extraordinary ability to imagine odors and create fragrances. Hum Brain Mapp, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.