Efficient Coding Principle Applied To Sense Of Smell

The efficient coding principle related to neurobiological processes can
also apply to the sense of smell, according to an article published on
April 25, 2008 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational
Biology.



The efficient coding principle, which describes the adaptation of
sensory neurons to the statistical characteristics of their natural
stiumuli, has been applied to the visual and auditory systems. However,
in this study, the sense of smell has been studied in this light, by
quantitatively examining how female moths are located by their male
mates through pheromones. The team, made up of researchers from the
Czech Academy of Sciences and the French National Institute for
Agricultural Research (INRA), chose to study the pheromone olfactory
system because it is the only one in aerial mammals for which
scientists have described the quantitative properties of both the
natural stimulus and the reception processes.



They used these processes to determine the characteristics of the
pheromone plume that was best detected by the male neuron reception
system. Then, researchers matched those characteristics with those from
plume measurements in the field, which in turn provided quantitative
evidence that this system follows the efficient coding principle.



The team affirms that olfactory neurons in moths process the stimuli
that occur most frequently in nature. They also note that the study was
confined to early detection events, in particular the interaction of
pheromone molecules membrane receptors. By exploring the quantitative
relationship between the properties of biological sensory systems and
their natural environment should create a better understanding of
neural functions and evolutionary processes while improving the design
of artificial sensory systems.



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Efficient Olfactory Coding in the Pheromone Receptor Neuron of
a Moth.

Kostal L, Lansky P, Rospars J-P 

PLoS Comput Biol 4(4):e1000053.

doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000053

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Here For Full Length Article



Written by Anna Sophia McKenney