# The Structure of Olfactory Neural and Perceptual Spaces

> **NIH NIH U19** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $631,104

## Abstract

Project Summary (Project 4: The structure of olfactory neural and perceptual spaces)
 It is not clear how stimulus-driven neural activity leads to perception. While this problem is typically
approached from a feed-forward perspective — stimuli are systematically varied as neural activity and perception
are monitored — the olfactory system poses a particular challenge, as the molecular stimulus space that drives
neural responses is not well defined. Here we suggest an alternative approach: rather than working forward from
receptors in the nose, we propose to work backwards from perception. That is, we will take advantage of a variety
of conceptual and technical innovations to construct a new type of “ruler” that will allow us to accurately measure
perceptual distances between odors, and then use this ruler to comprehensively map out the global structure of
perceptual odor space, first in humans and then in mice. In parallel we will take advantage of advances in neural
imaging technologies that give us, for the first time, access to cortical responses to odorants in awake mice.
Important preliminary data demonstrates that the piriform cortex harbors a systematic and invariant
representation of odor space, and that this space correlates with perceptual relationships amongst odors. By
assessing both cortical and perceptual responses to the same odorant set, these experiments will reveal how
information about odorant chemistry is organized in cortex, and how this information relates to perception, both
in mice and in humans. Constraining the dimensionality and structure of neural and perceptual odor spaces, in
a systematic and comprehensive fashion, will reveal key aspects of the input-output function of the olfactory
system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001614
- **Project number:** 5U19NS112953-02
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Sandeep R Datta
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $631,104
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001614

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001614, The Structure of Olfactory Neural and Perceptual Spaces (5U19NS112953-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001614. Licensed CC0.

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