Attention and Olfactory Consciousness

Understanding the relation between attention and consciousness is an important part of our understanding of consciousness. Attention, unlike consciousness, can be systematically manipulated in psychophysical experiments and a law-like relation between attention and consciousness is waiting to be discovered. Most attempts to discover the nature of this relation are focused on a special type of attention: spatial visual attention. In this review I want to introduce another type of attention to the discussion: attention to the olfactory modality. I will first clarify the position of attention to smells in a general taxonomy of attention. I will then review the mechanisms and neuroanatomy of attention and consciousness in the olfactory system before using the newly introduced system to provide evidence that attention is necessary for consciousness.

• Publication year

  2011

• Venue

  Front. Psychology

• Publication date

  2011-10-31

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00380PMID 22203813PMCID 3241345
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• An odor is not worth a thousand words: from multidimensional odors to unidimensional odor objects.

  2013cited by this paper
• Associative cortex features in the first olfactory brain relay station.

  2011cited by this paper
• The role of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus in human olfaction

  2011cited by this paper
• Visual attention: the past 25 years.

  2011cited by this paper
• A taxonomy of external and internal attention.

  2011influential reference
• The impact of mediodorsal thalamic lesions on olfactory attention and flavor perception.

  2011influential reference
• Modality-specific neural effects of selective attention to taste and odor.

  2011cited by this paper
• When Is Perception Conscious

  2010influential reference
• Attention and consciousness.

  2010cited by this paper
• Odor representations in mammalian cortical circuits.

  2010cited by this paper
• Perceiving the world : new essays on perception

  2010cited by this paper
• Right Orbitofrontal Cortex Mediates Conscious Olfactory Perception

  2010cited by this paper
• Single-Unit Activity in Piriform Cortex during Slow-Wave State Is Shaped by Recent Odor Experience

  2010cited by this paper
• Consciousness and Attention: On Sufficiency and Necessity

  2010cited by this paper
• Central mechanisms of odour object perception

  2010cited by this paper
• Early transformations in odor representation.

  2010cited by this paper
• Neural networks letter: Minimal neuroanatomy for a conscious brain: Homing in on the networks constituting consciousness

  2010cited by this paper
• Human olfaction: a constant state of change-blindness

  2010cited by this paper
• Visual attention: the thalamus at the centre?

  2009cited by this paper
• Is the olfactory bulb computationally similar to the retina?

  2009cited by this paper
• Phenomenal and access consciousness in olfaction.

  2009cited by this paper
• Perceptual and Neural Pliability of Odor Objects

  2009cited by this paper
• Chemosensory pathways: from periphery to cortex.

  2009cited by this paper
• Spared and Impaired Olfactory Abilities after Thalamic Lesions

  2009cited by this paper
• Sex differences and reproductive hormone influences on human odor perception.

  2009cited by this paper
• Load Induced Blindness

  2008cited by this paper
• Self‐Ratings of Olfactory Function Reflect Odor Annoyance Rather than Olfactory Acuity

  2008cited by this paper
• Attention to Odor Modulates Thalamocortical Connectivity in the Human Brain

  2008influential reference
• The Neural Correlates of Consciousness

  2008cited by this paper
• Guarding the gateway to cortex: attention in visual thalamus

  2008cited by this paper
• Odor localization and sniffing.

  2008cited by this paper
• Odor abnormalities caused by bilateral thalamic infarction.

  2008cited by this paper
• Chemically Derived, Ultrasmooth Graphene Nanoribbon Semiconductors

  2008cited by this paper
• Aversive Learning Enhances Perceptual and Cortical Discrimination of Indiscriminable Odor Cues

  2008cited by this paper
• Olfactory Hedonic Context Affects Both Self-Report and Behavioural Indices of Palatability

  2007cited by this paper
• An argument for an olfactory thalamus.

  2007cited by this paper
• Mechanisms of scent-tracking in humans

  2007cited by this paper
• Odour Perception: An Object-Recognition Approach

  2007cited by this paper
• Measures of human olfactory perception during pregnancy.

  2007cited by this paper
• Predicting Odor Pleasantness from Odorant Structure: Pleasantness as a Reflection of the Physical World

  2007cited by this paper
• Sniffing controls an adaptive filter of sensory input to the olfactory bulb

  2007cited by this paper
• What Can an Orbitofrontal Cortex‐Endowed Animal Do with Smells?

  2007influential reference
• Catecholaminergic Control of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling in Paraventricular Neuroendocrine Neurons In Vivo and In Vitro: A Proposed Role during Glycemic Challenges

  2007cited by this paper
• Perspectives on Olfactory Processing, Conscious Perception, and Orbitofrontal Cortex

  2007cited by this paper
• Conscious, preconscious, and subliminal processing: a testable taxonomy.

  2006cited by this paper
• The sniff is part of the olfactory percept.

  2006influential reference
• Exploring the engine of anthropogenic iron cycles

  2006cited by this paper
• Feature-selective attention enhances color signals in early visual areas of the human brain

  2006cited by this paper
• The sniff as a unit of olfactory processing.

  2006cited by this paper
• Trends in Cognitive Sciences , Vol . 9 No . 1 January 2005 16 Change blindness : Past , present , and future

  2005cited by this paper
• State-dependent sensory gating in olfactory cortex.

  2005cited by this paper
• Two neural correlates of consciousness.

  2005cited by this paper
• Computational correlates of consciousness.

  2005cited by this paper
• Brain mechanisms for extracting spatial information from smell.

  2005cited by this paper
• Neural correlates of olfactory change detection

  2005influential reference
• On the scent of human olfactory orbitofrontal cortex: meta-analysis and comparison to non-human primates.

  2005cited by this paper
• Cognitive modulation of olfactory processing.

  2005cited by this paper
• Neural Correlates of Consciousness: Empirical and Conceptual Questions

  2005cited by this paper
• Attentional modulation in human primary olfactory cortex

  2005influential reference
• Information processing in the mammalian olfactory system.

  2005cited by this paper
• The attentional selection of spatial and non-spatial attributes in touch: ERP evidence for parallel and independent processes.

  2004cited by this paper
• Minimal olfactory perception during sleep: why odor alarms will not work for humans.

  2004cited by this paper
• Experience-dependent neural integration of taste and smell in the human brain.

  2004cited by this paper
• The nose smells what the eye sees: crossmodal visual facilitation of human olfactory perception.

  2003cited by this paper
• Cortical mechanisms of feature-based attentional control.

  2003cited by this paper
• A framework for consciousness

  2003cited by this paper
• Taste‐olfactory convergence, and the representation of the pleasantness of flavour, in the human brain

  2003cited by this paper
• Inattentional Blindness

  2003cited by this paper
• Why visual attention and awareness are different.

  2003influential reference
• Roles of protein kinase A and protein kinase G in synaptic plasticity in the visual cortex.

  2003cited by this paper
• A mnemonic theory of odor perception.

  2003influential reference
• Intranasal Trigeminal Chemoreception Anatomy I Physiology I and Psychophysics

  2002cited by this paper
• Tonic and burst firing: dual modes of thalamocortical relay.

  2001cited by this paper
• Attention to olfaction. A psychophysical investigation.

  2001cited by this paper
• Parallel-distributed processing in olfactory cortex: new insights from morphological and physiological analysis of neuronal circuitry.

  2001cited by this paper
• Shared Attentional Resources for processing Visual and Chemosensory Information

  2001cited by this paper
• The effects of hedonic properties of odors and attentional modulation on the olfactory event-related potentials.

  2001cited by this paper
• Selective attention to the chemosensory modality

  2000cited by this paper
• Sensory‐specific satiety‐related olfactory activation of the human orbitofrontal cortex

  2000cited by this paper
• Chemosensory function and response in idiopathic environmental intolerance.

  2000cited by this paper
• Event-related brain potentials to attended and ignored olfactory and trigeminal stimuli.

  2000cited by this paper
• Cross-modal selective attention: On the difficulty of ignoring sounds at the locus of visual attention

  2000cited by this paper
• Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry

  2000influential reference
• Sensory-specific satiety-related olfactory activation of the human orbitofrontal cortex.

  2000cited by this paper
• A Limit in the Processing of Components in Odour Mixtures

  1999cited by this paper
• Odor- and context-dependent modulation of mitral cell activity in behaving rats

  1999influential reference
• Odors: implicit memory and performance effects.

  1999cited by this paper
• Attentional modulation of central odor processing.

  1998cited by this paper
• Spatiotemporal Masking in Pure Olfaction a

  1998cited by this paper
• Covert visual attention modulates face-specific activity in the human fusiform gyrus: fMRI study.

  1998influential reference
• Olfactory bulb

  1998influential reference
• Olfactory cortex

  1998cited by this paper
• Where and When to Pay Attention: The Neural Systems for Directing Attention to Spatial Locations and to Time Intervals as Revealed by Both PET and fMRI

  1998cited by this paper
• Central processing of odor concentration is a temporal phenomenon as revealed by chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERP).

  1997cited by this paper
• On measuring selective attention to an expected sensory modality

  1997cited by this paper
• The functional neuroanatomy of awareness: with a focus on the role of various anatomical systems in the control of intermodal attention.

  1997cited by this paper
• Disorders of smell, taste, and food intake in a patient with a dorsomedial thalamic infarct.

  1996cited by this paper
• Late contralateral hyperhidrosis in lateral medullary infarcts.

  1996cited by this paper
• Thalmic Contributions to Attention and Consciousness

  1995cited by this paper
• The attentional control of pain: methodological and theoretical concerns

  1995cited by this paper

• Multisensory virtual reality environments in architecture: The impact of smell on presence, engagement, and user experience

  2025cites this paper
• Is scenery mandatory for restoration? Attention restoration without visual nature elements

  2025cites this paper
• E-scent Coach: A Wearable Olfactory System to Guide Deep Breathing Synchronized with Yoga Postures

  2025cites this paper
• Digital Smell Technologies for the Built Environment: Evaluating Human Responses to Multisensory Stimuli in Immersive Virtual Reality

  2025cites this paper
• Smelling x as y? On (the impossibility of) multistable perception in the chemical senses.

  2025cites this paper
• Un-binding the Umwelt: The Differential Contributions of the Five Classical Senses can be Understood Through Hindu Tantra

  2025cites this paper
• fNIRS a novel neuroimaging tool to investigate olfaction, olfactory imagery, and crossmodal interactions: a systematic review

  2024cites this paper
• Identifying Consciousness in Other Creatures: Three Initial Steps

  2024cites this paper
• Investigating the effect of different smells in the indoor built environment (office) on human emotions using a mixed-method approach

  2024cites this paper
• An Empirical Study on the Effect of Blended Scents in Driving Environments From a Neuro‐Cognitive Perspective

  2024cites this paper
• Smell Above All: Envisioning Smell-Centred Future Worlds

  2024cites this paper
• The Smell of Sustainability: Understanding Consumers’ Acceptability of Recycled Plastic Packaging with an Off-Odor

  2024cites this paper
• Nature and human well-being: The olfactory pathway

  2024cites this paper
• Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting axillary odor variation. A comprehensive review.

  2023cites this paper
• Approaches to studying endocranial morphology in Euarchontoglires: Assessing sources of error for a novel and biologically informative set of landmarks

  2023cites this paper
• High-precision mapping reveals the structure of odor coding in the human brain

  2023cites this paper
• A review of sensory interactions between autonomous vehicles and drivers

  2023cites this paper
• Low odor awareness predicts reduced olfactory abilities in women with depressive symptoms, but not with anxiety symptoms.

  2023cites this paper
• The Effect of Evaluating Self's Emotions on Frontal Alpha Asymmetry

  2023cites this paper
• The Technical Dilemmas of Creative Design and Rapid Prototyping for Immersive Storytelling

  2022cites this paper
• Attention: a descriptive taxonomy

  2022cites this paper
• QuintEssence: A Probe Study to Explore the Power of Smell on Emotions, Memories, and Body Image in Daily Life

  2022cites this paper
• The Neuroanatomic Correlates of Olfactory Identification Impairment in Healthy Older Adults and in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment

  2022cites this paper
• Smells in Sustainable Environments: The Scented Silk Road to Spending

  2021cites this paper
• May I Smell Your Attention: Exploration of Smell and Sound for Visuospatial Attention in Virtual Reality

  2021cites this paper
• Human-Centric Lighting: Foundational Considerations and a Five-Step Design Process

  2021cites this paper
• Common Structure of Vision and Olfaction

  2021cites this paper
• Validation of Olfactory Network Based on Brain Structural Connectivity and Its Association With Olfactory Test Scores

  2021cites this paper
• Different types of attention

  2021cites this paper
• Common Structure of Vision and Olfaction

  2021cites this paper
• Temporal Structure of Now from a Close-Up View

  2021cites this paper
• Sniff Before You Act: Exploration of Scent-Feature Associations for Designing Future Interactions

  2021cites this paper
• Contribution of ambient noise and hyperbaric atmosphere to olfactory and gustatory function

  2020cites this paper
• SMELL SPACE

  2020cites this paper
• Giving meaning to the social world in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Olfaction as a missing piece of the puzzle?

  2020cites this paper
• Anticipation-induced delta phase reset improves human olfactory perception

  2020cites this paper
• Olfactory sniffing signals consciousness in unresponsive patients with brain injuries

  2020cites this paper
• Attention in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Machine Learning

  2020cites this paper
• SmellControl: The Study of Sense of Agency in Smell

  2020cites this paper
• Prefrontal Responses to Odors in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Functional NIRS Measurement Combined With a Fragrance Pulse Ejection System

  2020cites this paper
• OWidgets: A toolkit to enable smell-based experience design

  2019cites this paper
• Olfactory change detection.

  2019cites this paper
• The nonclassical mereology of olfactory experiences

  2019cites this paper
• A Multivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition–Based Data-Driven Approach for Extracting Task-Dependent Hemodynamic Responses in Olfactory-Induced fMRI

  2019cites this paper
• The Impact of Acoustic fMRI-Noise on Olfactory Sensitivity and Perception.

  2019cites this paper
• Electrophysiological correlates of top-down attentional modulation in olfaction

  2019cites this paper
• Anatomical imaging of the piriform cortex in epilepsy.

  2019cites this paper
• Attending to the Chemical Senses.

  2019cites this paper
• Unawareness of Olfactory Dysfunction in Older Adults

  2019cites this paper
• Characterization of the Olfactory Pathway by Anisotropic Diffusion Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Pediatric Population

  2019cites this paper
• Modulation des activations cérébrales par des odeurs subliminales : une étude en IRM fonctionnelle

  2019influential citation
• Smell-O-Message: Integration of Olfactory Notifications into a Messaging Application to Improve Users' Performance

  2018influential citation
• “What Smell?” Temporarily Loading Visual Attention Induces a Prolonged Loss of Olfactory Awareness

  2018cites this paper
• Attentional modulation of desensitization to odor

  2018influential citation
• Effects of Task Demands on Olfactory, Auditory, and Visual Event-Related Potentials Suggest Similar Top-Down Modulation Across Senses

  2018influential citation
• Eye-Tracking in the Real World: Insights About the Urban Environment

  2018cites this paper
• Putting Smell in Its Place: The Categorization of Odor Preservation Projects

  2018cites this paper
• Olfactory Spatial Attention: Neural Structural Connectivity Revealed

  2018cites this paper
• Matching beer with food : pairing principles, underlying mechanisms and a focus on aromatic similarity

  2018cites this paper
• Olfactory short term memory: understanding perceptual representations of odours and the role of encoding strategies in working memory.

  2017cites this paper
• Sad Man’s Nose: Emotion Induction and Olfactory Perception

  2017cites this paper
• Avoidant motivational orientation extends perceptual limits

  2017cites this paper
• Cognitive Load Alters Neuronal Processing of Food Odors

  2017cites this paper
• Olfaction as a marker for depression

  2017cites this paper
• Both anxiety and joint laxity determine the olfactory features in panic disorder.

  2017cites this paper
• Child Odors and Parenting: A Survey Examination of the Role of Odor in Child-Rearing

  2016cites this paper
• UC Merced Electronic Theses and Dissertations

  2016cites this paper
• A Paleocortico-Thalamo-Cortical Circuit Operating Giant Synapses

  2016cites this paper
• Attentional Control: Strategies for Structuring Cognition

  2016cites this paper
• Disgust and fear lower olfactory threshold.

  2016cites this paper
• Using scents to connect to intangible heritage: Engaging the visitor olfactory dimension: Three museum exhibition case studies

  2016cites this paper
• What if consciousness has no function?

  2015cites this paper
• Emotion elicitation by odors and their influence on behavior and cognitive performance

  2015influential citation
• Involvement of Subcortical Brain Structures During Olfactory Stimulation in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

  2015cites this paper
• The olfactory thalamus: unanswered questions about the role of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus in olfaction

  2015cites this paper
• Olfactory functioning in panic disorder.

  2015cites this paper
• A “Misfit” Theory of Spontaneous Conscious Odor Perception (MITSCOP): reflections on the role and function of odor memory in everyday life

  2014cites this paper
• Synaesthesia quotient: operationalising an individual index of phenotypic expressivity of developmental synaesthesia

  2014cites this paper
• Cortical odor processing in health and disease.

  2014cites this paper
• Flavor binding: Its nature and cause.

  2014cites this paper
• The Piriform Cortex and Human Focal Epilepsy

  2014cites this paper
• The olfactory system as the gateway to the neural correlates of consciousness

  2014influential citation
• The evolutionary function of conscious information processing is revealed by its task-dependency in the olfactory system

  2014cites this paper
• First-Order Embodiment, Second-Order Embodiment, Third-Order Embodiment

  2014cites this paper
• Introduction to research topic: attention and consciousness in different senses

  2013influential citation
• Human olfactory consciousness and cognition: its unusual features may not result from unusual functions but from limited neocortical processing resources

  2013cites this paper
• Cranial nerves XIII and XIV: nerves in the shadows

  2013cites this paper
• Olfactory perception, cognition, and dysfunction in humans.

  2013cites this paper
• Odour perception following bilateral damage to the olfactory bulbs: a possible case of blind smell.

  2013cites this paper
• An olfactory demography of a diverse metropolitan population

  2012cites this paper
• Neuronal function is necessary but not sufficient for consciousness: consciousness is necessary for will

  2012cites this paper
• Examining neurobehavioral effects of chemosensory exposure to local irritants using event related potentials

  2012cites this paper
• Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

  year unknowncites this paper