| anosmia | An inability to smell odors. See specific anosmia.
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| cilia | In the case of hearing, cilia are tiny hair-like structures that extend into the fluid of the inner ear; their movements are caused by pressure waves in that fluid bend the cilia and trigger electrical signals. In the case of olfaction, cilia are tiny tufts of thin hairs projecting out of each olfactory receptor cell and extending through the mucous layer into the nasal cavity; thought to be the site where odorous molecules trigger electrical changes in the olfactory receptor cell.
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| common chemical sense | An aspect of olfaction responsible for the detection of strong concentrations of potentially dangerous substances; responsible for the "feeling" in the nose produced by certain substances.
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| cross-adaptation | A temporary loss in sensitivity to one odor following exposure to a different odor.
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| free nerve endings | Nerve cells in the skin that mediate pain perception and cells in the olfactory epithelium that mediate the common chemical sense.
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| mixture suppression | The strength of an odorant or a taste substance presented alone may be reduced when that same odorant or taste substance is presented in combination with another.
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| multidimensional scaling (MDS) | A quantitative technique for geometrically representing similarity among stimuli.
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| nasal cycle | Periodic alternation in which first one, then the other nostril is obstructed.
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| odor adaptation | A reduction in odor sensitivity following prolonged exposure to an odorous substance.
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| odor constancy | The tendency of an odor's perceived intensity to remain constant despite variations in the flow rate of air drawn into the nose.
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| olfactometer | Device for presenting controlled amounts of an odorant to one or both nostrils.
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| olfactory brain | A cluster of neural structures that receives projections from the olfactory bulb via the olfactory tract.
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| olfactory bulb | The brain structure that receives input from the olfactory nerve.
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| olfactory epithelium | A patch of tissue situated near the top of the nasal cavity and containing the olfactory receptor cells.
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| olfactory nerve | The bundle of axons from olfactory receptor cells that project to the olfactory bulb, carrying information about odorous substances from the nose to the brain. Also called first cranial nerve.
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| olfactory sensory neuron | A bipolar (double-ended) nerve cell that captures odorant molecules and initiates the neural signals for smell.
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| pheromones | Odors that serve as sexual signals.
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| specific anosmias | Conditions in which people have normal odor sensitivity for some substances but reduced sensitivity for other substances. See anosmia.
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| tip of the nose effect | The phenomenon in which an odor seems familiar though one cannot name it.
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