2021年10月22日　　Friday Lunch Seminar （英語で開催します）
12:15 〜 13:00
On-lineで開催いたします。
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（締め切り：10月21日正午、参加要領は10月21日にeメールにてお知らせします。）

演題：Olfactory stimulation modulates visual perception without training

国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構 (NICT)
未来ICT研究所
脳情報通信融合研究センター (CiNet)
脳機能解析研究室
主任研究員
對馬 淑亮

担当PI：N. Eiji Nawa

Abstract:
Considerable research shows that olfactory stimulation can affect emotions and other high-level cognitive functions. However, a little-known fact is that olfaction can modulate the low-level perception of other sensory modalities.

To test the possibility that olfaction modulates low-level perception even without training, we conducted a series of psychophysical and neuroimaging experiments. Behavioral results revealed that participants reported the speed of moving dots to be slower when they were paired with a lemon smell but faster when a vanilla smell was presented instead. Moreover, fMRI results showed that areas in the visual cortex [V1 and human middle temporal area (hMT)] displayed distinct activity depending on the type of olfactory stimulation that was presented.

These findings provide the first direct evidence that olfaction can modulate low-level visual perception without training, indicating that this olfactory-visual effect is not an acquired behavior but rather an innate one. This newly discovered crossmodal effect between olfaction and vision opens a unique opportunity to reconsider some fundamental roles of olfactory function.