Sensory representations depend strongly on the descending regulation of perceptual processing. Generalization among similar stimuli is a fundamental cognitive process that defines the extent of the variance in physical stimulus properties that becomes categorized together and associated with a common contingency, thereby establishing units of meaning. The olfactory system provides an experimentally tractable model system in which to study the interactions of these physical and psychological factors within the framework of their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. We here show that olfactory associative learning systematically regulates gradients of odor generalization. Specifically, increasing odor-reward pairings, odor concentration, or reward quality -each a determinant of associative learning -significantly transformed olfactory generalization gradients, each narrowing the range of variance in odor quality perceived as likely to share the learned contingency of a conditioned odor stimulus. However, differences in the qualitative features of these three transformations suggest that these different determinants of learning are not necessarily theoretically interchangeable. These results demonstrate that odor representations are substantially shaped by experience and descending influences.

Acuity is fundamental to sensory systems, establishing the foundation for detectable differences in stimulus quality and consequently shaping animals' sensory capacities. In the olfactory system, which samples intrinsically high-dimensional chemical information, acuity for odor quality is measurable by means of ad hoc dimensions based on behaviorally confirmed sets of sequentially similar odorants. The authors measure olfactory acuity in mice using a rewarded forced-choice odor generalization task and show that mice exhibit greater olfactory acuity in response to higher concentration (1,0 Pa) odorants than to lower concentration (0.01 Pa) odorants. Results suggest that the dynamic modulation of sensory acuity--not necessarily its maximization--is an important component of olfactory processing and reflects the salience of odorant stimuli.

The perceptual differentiation of odors can be measured behaviorally using generalization gradients. The steepness of these gradients defines a form of olfactory acuity for odor quality that depends on neural circuitry within the olfactory bulb and is regulated by cholinergic activity therein as well as by associative learning. Using this system as a reduced model for age-related cognitive decline, we show that aged mice, while maintaining almost the same baseline behavioral performance as younger mice, are insensitive to the effects of acutely elevated acetylcholine, which sharpens generalization gradients in young adult mice. Moreover, older mice exhibit evidence of chronically elevated acetylcholine levels in the olfactory bulb, suggesting that their insensitivity to further elevated levels of acetylcholine may arise because the maximum capacity of the system to respond to acetylcholine has already been reached. We propose a model in which an underlying, age-related, progressive deficit is mitigated by a compensatory cholinergic feedback loop that acts to retard the behavioral effects of what would otherwise be a substantial age-related decline in olfactory plasticity.We also treated mice with ten-day regimens of olfactory environmental enrichment and/or repeated systemic injections of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor physostigmine. Each treatment alone sharpened odor quality acuity, but administering both treatments together had no greater effect than either alone. Age was not a significant main effect in this study, suggesting that some capacity for acetylcholine-dependent plasticity is still present in aged mice despite their sharply reduced ability to respond to acute increases in acetylcholine levels.These results suggest a dynamical framework for understanding age-related decline in neural circuit processing in which the direct effects of aging can be mitigated, at least temporarily, by systemic compensatory responses. In particular, a decline in cholinergic efficacy can precede any