Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behaviour

Olfaction, the sense of smell, is essential for insects to humans in their living environment. While you are in a fruit shop, can you distinguish tangerine from the orange using only sense of smell? What about an apple from an orange? The above-mentioned examples involve complex odor discrimination (orange vs. tangerine) and relatively simple odor discrimination (apple vs. orange) in the background of mixed fruity odors. Is there a limit in terms of complexity of stimuli that a human nose can be challenged with? How do our noses achieve these remarkable discriminability? To address these questions, we are developing a psychophysical experimental paradigm using which we can study the olfactory discrimination abilities in human subjects. As we have to standardize the parameters to establish a robust experimental paradigm, we are looking for subjects of all ages and genders to perform simple olfactory discrimination tests. This pilot study is approved by the IISER Ethics Committee for Human Research (IECHR). Please register using the following form if you are willing to volunteer and be a part of an exciting project.