Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures

Summary: Sensory systems dynamically adjust their sensitivity to optimize information detection while minimizing interference. Sensory adaptation, a fundamental phenomenon across sensory modalities, temporarily reduces responsiveness during stimulus exposure and allows recovery afterward. We investi...

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Main Authors: Nicolás Pírez, Federico Andrés Gascue, Marcos Rafael Sorrentino, Fernando Federico Locatelli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:iScience
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422501260X
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author Nicolás Pírez
Federico Andrés Gascue
Marcos Rafael Sorrentino
Fernando Federico Locatelli
author_facet Nicolás Pírez
Federico Andrés Gascue
Marcos Rafael Sorrentino
Fernando Federico Locatelli
author_sort Nicolás Pírez
collection DOAJ
description Summary: Sensory systems dynamically adjust their sensitivity to optimize information detection while minimizing interference. Sensory adaptation, a fundamental phenomenon across sensory modalities, temporarily reduces responsiveness during stimulus exposure and allows recovery afterward. We investigated how adaptation influences the perception of odor mixtures in honeybees, Apis mellifera. Using electroantennogram recordings, we established conditions that reliably induce adaptation at the level of olfactory receptor neurons. We then examined its effects on mixture representation in projection neurons of the antennal lobe. Adaptation significantly reduced the contribution of the adapted odor while preserving the relative strength of the non-adapted component. A behavioral conditioning protocol revealed that adaptation shifted the perceptual quality of mixtures toward the non-adapted odor. Our findings demonstrate that sensory adaptation enhances mixture segregation, facilitating the detection of low-concentration components that might otherwise be masked within complex stimuli.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2589-0042
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spelling doaj-art-e71daf33df1b41789ae170ecb2d435f62025-08-20T03:28:24ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-07-0128711299910.1016/j.isci.2025.112999Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixturesNicolás Pírez0Federico Andrés Gascue1Marcos Rafael Sorrentino2Fernando Federico Locatelli3Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular and CONICET-UBA, Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Buenos Aires, ArgentinaUniversidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular and CONICET-UBA, Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Buenos Aires, ArgentinaUniversidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular and CONICET-UBA, Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Buenos Aires, ArgentinaUniversidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular and CONICET-UBA, Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Corresponding authorSummary: Sensory systems dynamically adjust their sensitivity to optimize information detection while minimizing interference. Sensory adaptation, a fundamental phenomenon across sensory modalities, temporarily reduces responsiveness during stimulus exposure and allows recovery afterward. We investigated how adaptation influences the perception of odor mixtures in honeybees, Apis mellifera. Using electroantennogram recordings, we established conditions that reliably induce adaptation at the level of olfactory receptor neurons. We then examined its effects on mixture representation in projection neurons of the antennal lobe. Adaptation significantly reduced the contribution of the adapted odor while preserving the relative strength of the non-adapted component. A behavioral conditioning protocol revealed that adaptation shifted the perceptual quality of mixtures toward the non-adapted odor. Our findings demonstrate that sensory adaptation enhances mixture segregation, facilitating the detection of low-concentration components that might otherwise be masked within complex stimuli.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422501260XZoologyEntomologyNeuroscienceSensory neuroscience
spellingShingle Nicolás Pírez
Federico Andrés Gascue
Marcos Rafael Sorrentino
Fernando Federico Locatelli
Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
iScience
Zoology
Entomology
Neuroscience
Sensory neuroscience
title Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
title_full Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
title_fullStr Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
title_full_unstemmed Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
title_short Sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
title_sort sensory adaptation modulates coding and the perceptual quality of odor mixtures
topic Zoology
Entomology
Neuroscience
Sensory neuroscience
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422501260X
work_keys_str_mv AT nicolaspirez sensoryadaptationmodulatescodingandtheperceptualqualityofodormixtures
AT federicoandresgascue sensoryadaptationmodulatescodingandtheperceptualqualityofodormixtures
AT marcosrafaelsorrentino sensoryadaptationmodulatescodingandtheperceptualqualityofodormixtures
AT fernandofedericolocatelli sensoryadaptationmodulatescodingandtheperceptualqualityofodormixtures