Exploring the brains from people with smell loss

Olfaction plays an important role in several aspects of daily life, such as eating behaviors, detection of environmental hazards and social communication. Olfactory dysfunction may be congenital (present at birth) or acquired (developed later in life), ranging in severity from reduced olfactory sensitivity (hyposmia) to complete loss of the sense of smell (anosmia), or qualitative changes in how an odor is perceived (e.g. coffee smell like garbage). Losing the sense of smell can lead to decreased quality of life, issues with daily safety and altered eating behaviors. To date, most studies on olfactory loss have focused on differences in brain structure between healthy and impaired individuals, while characterization of functional brain changes in patients with olfactory loss has lagged behind. In collaboration with Hospital Gelderse Vallei and their Smell and Taste Center, we will study the relation between changes in olfactory function and brain structure and activation in response to odors, by means of (f)MRI and EEG.