Functional brain networks during picture encoding and recognition in different odor contexts

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 333; pp. 98 - 108
• Main Authors: Reichert, J.L., Ninaus, M., Schuehly, W., Hirschmann, C., Bagga, D., Schöpf, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 30-08-2017
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiology; Context-dependent memory; Episodic memory; Female; fMRI; Functional connectivity; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Linear Models; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mental Recall; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiology; Odorants; Olfaction; Oxygen - blood; Photic Stimulation; Picture memory; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Smell - physiology; Young Adult; Functional connectivity; Picture memory; fMRI; Context-dependent memory; Episodic memory; Olfaction
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.06.022

•Successful picture encoding in congruent odor context involved olfactory activation.•Subcortical networks were particularly recruited in an incongruent odor context.•Picture recognition performance was not influenced by odor context.
Contextual odors can serve as retrieval cues when applied during encoding and recall/recognition of information. To investigate the neuronal basis of these observations, we collected functional MRI data while participants (n=51) performed an encoding and recognition memory task during which odors (congruent: CO or incongruent: IO) were presented as contextual cues. Recognition performance was not influenced by odor, but there was increased activation in the piriform cortex during successful encoding in the CO group, possibly indicating enhanced retrieval of information previously integrated with an olfactory percept. Moreover, group-independent component analysis revealed a stronger task-modulation of subcortical networks for IO versus CO during the recognition task, pointing to differences in olfactory processing. These observations provide a deeper understanding of the involvement of functional neuronal networks in memory tasks and a basis for further evaluation of the impact of odor contexts.