Ten subjects (six women; age 23–27 years) participated in Experiment 1 and 12 subjects (six women aged 22–29

years) participated in Experiment 2. All were right-handed, without known neurological or olfactory deficits, and all provided informed consent to take part in the study, which was approved GSK3 inhibitor by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board. One subject was excluded from Experiment 2 due to poor behavioral performance. Two odorants were selected that were relatively familiar, similar in pleasantness, and easily discriminable from each other: eugenol (“clove”) and citral (“lemon”). All subjects were highly familiar with these odor categories, and were introduced to both stimuli prior to the main experiment so that they could easily associate names with the stimulus percepts. Odorants were diluted in diethylphthalate and matched for perceptual intensity (concentrations: citral, 50% v/v; eugenol, 33% v/v). Odorants were presented using an eight-channel MRI-compatible air-dilution olfactometer (airflow, 10 L/min), permitting precise delivery of two-odorant mixtures through a nasal mask. The ratio of the two odorants was modified by adjusting the relative proportion that each odorant channel contributed to the total airflow. Nine different odorant

mixtures were used, morphing between 100% eugenol and 100% citral in 12.5% steps. Follow-up analyses ensured that odor intensities were the same across this mixture continuum and did not change click here during a trial or over the course of the experiment (Supplemental Experimental Procedures). Subjects were instructed to keep their sniffs as similar as possible for each trial. Sniffs were measured with a spirometer attached to the nasal mask during Experiment 1, and with a pair of breathing belts affixed around the chest and abdomen (Howard et al., 2009) during Experiment 2. The

output from these devices was processed using a PowerLab 8/30 data acquisition system (ADInstruments). Mean inspiratory volume in Experiment 2 did not significantly differ across odor mixtures (F3.24,32.36 = 1.356; p = 0.273; repeated-measures ANOVA) or across sniff number (F1.43,14.25 = 1.576; p = 0.238, three-, four-, and five-sniff trials). Subjects performed a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task, in which they indicated which of two olfactory perceptual qualities (lemon and clove) was dominant why in an odorant mixture (citral and eugenol). Subjects completed four blocks of 36 trials in which each of the nine odor mixtures was presented four times in a random order (144 trials in total). At the beginning of each block, subjects were instructed to take either one, two, or three sniffs (“fixed-sniff” blocks), or as many sniffs as needed to make a reasonably confident decision regarding which one of the odorants dominated the stimulus mixture (“open-sniff” blocks). The order in which these blocks were completed was counter-balanced across subjects.