This study reports that odorants that elicited similar fMRI activity patterns in the posterior piriform cortex were more likely to be judged as being more perceptually alike. This correlation between spatially distributed activity and perceptual judgments was not reproduced in other areas of the brain, suggesting that the posterior piriform cortex contains a spatially distributed ensemble code for odor object quality.
- James D Howard
- Jane Plailly
- Jay A Gottfried
