How Smell Works

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My partner for the presentation, Emily, and I presented about smell after reading about it in The Natural History of the Senses. In my Brain, Mind, and Behavior class we were not able to go over the Olfactory(smell) system due to not having enough time. I wanted to know about it so I took upon myself to learn how the system works.

Olfactory transduction takes place at the olfactory hair cell. An olfactory receptor is bound by a matching odor molecule, also known as ligand, thus depolarizing the hair cell which then excites the mitral neuron to fire.

The mitral neuron axons project to the amygdala and the hippocampus which are parts of the limbic system. This is one reason that smell can trigger strong memories.

Watson, Neil V., and S. Marc. Breedlove. The Mind's Machine: Foundations of Brain and Behavior. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers, 2018.

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