Prediction Enhances Olfactory Processing

The ability to predict sensory events before they occur helps an organism navigate a complex world. To provide greater insight into how predictive coding is used in the olfactory system, Jay Gottfried and colleagues examined the spatiotemporal evolution of odor perception in the human brain during an olfactory search task. They discovered that predictive coding in posterior piriform cortex (PPC) facilitates olfactory perception, demonstrating the relevance of prediction to olfaction and revealing a dynamic role for PPC at the interface between sensation, expectation, and perception. Read more in Zelano et al., Neuron 72(1).