Just Noticeable Differences in Component Concentrations Modify the Odor Quality of a Blending Mixture

108

There was an error published in J. Exp. Biol. 213,[3388][3389][3390][3391][3392][3393][3394][3395][3396][3397] In the text of this paper, the proportions of two compounds in the plant-derived volatile mixture tested, i.e. (E)-2-hexenal and benzaldehyde, were inadvertently exchanged.In the second paragraph of the 'Chemicals and mixtures' section on p. 3389, it is stated that the mixture mimicking bioactive peach shoot volatiles was composed of (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, (E)-2-hexenal, benzaldehyde and benzonitrile, at ratios of 69.74:14.62:13.24:2.25:0.15 vol./vol., respectively. The proportions of the compounds in the mixture should read: 69.74:14.62:2.25:13.24:0.15 vol./vol.The authors apologize for this error but confirm that the correct proportions of compounds were used throughout the study and therefore results and conclusions remain unaffected.

Section: Behavioral Effects Of Changing Ratios Of Constituents In MIXmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and neurophysiological responses of an insect to changing ratios of constituents in host plant-derived volatile mixtures

Najar-Rodríguez

Galizia

Stierle

et al. 2010

108

“…This model has found support for instance in humans (i.e. Le Berre et al, 2008a;Le Berre et al, 2008b). These theories are not mutually exclusive, and a combination is possible, where mixtures of two or more stimuli are represented by the individual elements (elemental theory), as well as an element unique to the mixture (configural theory): a mixture of AB will be perceived as ABC (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical structure of odorants and perceptual similarity in ants

Bos

d’Ettorre

Guerrieri

2013

SUMMARYAnimals are often immersed in a chemical world consisting of mixtures of many compounds rather than of single substances, and they constantly face the challenge of extracting relevant information out of the chemical landscape. To this purpose, the ability to discriminate among different stimuli with different valence is essential, but it is also important to be able to generalise, i.e. to treat different but similar stimuli as equivalent, as natural variation does not necessarily affect stimulus valence. Animals can thus extract regularities in their environment and make predictions, for instance about distribution of food resources. We studied perceptual similarity of different plant odours by conditioning individual carpenter ants to one odour, and subsequently testing their response to another, structurally different odour. We found that asymmetry in generalisation, where ants generalise from odour A to B, but not from B to A, is dependent on both chain length and functional group. By conditioning ants to a binary mixture, and testing their reaction to the individual components of the mixture, we show that overshadowing, where parts of a mixture are learned better than others, is rare. Additionally, generalisation is dependent not only on the structural similarity of odorants, but also on their functional value, which might play a crucial role. Our results provide insight into how ants make sense of the complex chemical world around them, for example in a foraging context, and provide a basis with which to investigate the neural mechanisms behind perceptual similarity. Supplementary material available online at

“…Indeed, for certain mixtures of two or three odorants, very precise ratios of the components release an odour blending process in humans, i.e. a process leading to the perception of the mixture's odour as more typical of a target odour as compared to the odour of each constituent (Le Berre et al, 2008a;Le Berre et al, 2008b). Linster and Smith (Linster and Smith, 1999) performed a series of experiments in adult rats which aimed to examine the assumption that binary odour mixtures are perceived as novel qualities that are totally independent of their components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elemental and configural processing of odour mixtures in the newborn rabbit

Coureaud

Hamdani

Schaal

et al. 2009

SUMMARYThe processing of odour mixtures by young organisms is poorly understood. Recently, the perception of an AB mixture, known to engage configural perception in adult humans, was suggested also to be partially configural in newborn rabbits. In particular, pups did not respond to AB after they had learned A or B. However, two alternative hypotheses might be suggested to explain this result: the presence in the mixture of a novel odorant that inhibits the response to the learned stimulus, and the unevenness of the sensory and cognitive processes engaged during the conditioning and the behavioural testing. We conducted four experiments to explore these alternative hypotheses. In experiment 1, the learning of A or B ended in responses to mixtures including a novel odorant (AC or BC). Experiment 2 pointed to the absence of overshadowing. Therefore, a novelty effect cannot explain the non-response to AB after the learning of A or B. In experiment 3, pups having learned A or B in AC or BC did not respond to AB. However, they generalized odour information acquired in AB to AC or BC in experiment 4. Thus, the balancing of the perceptual tasks between the conditioning and retention test does not enhance the response to the AB mixture. To sum up, the present experiments give concrete support to the partially configural perception of specific odour mixtures by newborn rabbits.