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Predicting odor pleasantness from odorant structure : pleasantness as a reflection of the physical world| old_uid | 3144 |
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| title | Predicting odor pleasantness from odorant structure : pleasantness as a reflection of the physical world |
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| start_date | 2007/09/03 |
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| schedule | 14h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | Although it is agreed that physico-chemical features of molecules determine their perceived odor, the rules governing this relationship remain unknown. A significant obstacle to such understanding is the high dimensionality of features describing both percepts and molecules. We applied a statistical method to reduce dimensionality in both odor percepts and physico-chemical descriptors for a large set of molecules. We found that the primary axis of perception was odor pleasantness, and critically, that the primary axis of physico-chemical properties reflected the primary axis of olfactory perception. This allowed us to predict the pleasantness of novel molecules by their physico-chemical properties alone. Olfactory perception is strongly shaped by experience and learning. However, our findings suggest that olfactory pleasantness is also partially innate, corresponding to an axis of maximal discriminability amongst biologically relevant molecules. |
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| responsibles | Gervais |
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