Olfactory Orientation and Navigation in Humans

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 17;10(6):e0129387. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129387. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Although predicted by theory, there is no direct evidence that an animal can define an arbitrary location in space as a coordinate location on an odor grid. Here we show that humans can do so. Using a spatial match-to-sample procedure, humans were led to a random location within a room diffused with two odors. After brief sampling and spatial disorientation, they had to return to this location. Over three conditions, participants had access to different sensory stimuli: olfactory only, visual only, and a final control condition with no olfactory, visual, or auditory stimuli. Humans located the target with higher accuracy in the olfaction-only condition than in the control condition and showed higher accuracy than chance. Thus a mechanism long proposed for the homing pigeon, the ability to define a location on a map constructed from chemical stimuli, may also be a navigational mechanism used by humans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Olfactory Perception*
  • Orientation / physiology*
  • Spatial Navigation / physiology*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funding from National Science Foundation Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Grant 1028319 to L.F.J., and by the Berkeley Research Impact program for the funding of publication fees. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.