Sensory transduction by primary olfactory sensory cells in a diverse array of organisms sets up spatial neural codes for odors that evolve over time. A subject of debate is whether the temporal aspect of the sensory response in the vertebrate olfactory bulb or the insect antennal lobe contributes to detection and differentiation of odors. If the temporal aspect of odor representation is important, then a reduction in stimulus duration, stimulus intensity and/or the number of stimulus presentations will impair odor discrimination. This prediction will be tested using a combination of mathematical modeling, and behavioral and electrophysiological experiments with honeybees. The honeybee is an excellent model for studying olfactory processing because honeybees can be conditioned to respond to specific olfactory stimuli and also because it is possible to record simultaneously from multiple neurons in the honeybee antennal lobe. In the proposed behavioral experiments, it is expected that honeybees have more difficulty learning and discriminating among odors of decreased duration and intensity. In parallel, the responses of neurons in the antennal lobe are expected to correlate with the behavioral findings, such that the separation of spatiotemporal response patterns to odors decreases in parallel with impaired discriminability. Finally, the data will be integrated into a computational model of the antennal lobe. The model will be used to test and formulate hypotheses for mechanisms underlying the experimental data. ? ? The significant anatomical and functional similarities between the vertebrate olfactory bulb and insect antennal lobe, such and that of the honeybee, indicates that these different groups of animals have evolved the same type of neural solution to olfactory coding. Therefore, this work stands to reveal mechanisms of olfactory coding that are fundamental to most, if not indeed all, animals, including humans. ? ?
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