Odor mapping in neuroscience and design

The olfactory system remains one of the least well understood out of the five senses. In this thesis we examined the mappings of the odors to pathways in the brain as an initial assessment for the feasibility of digital odor. The results confirmed previous findings that each odor activated 1-6 neurons. Next, we looked at a controversial theory of odor detection using vibrations popularized recently by Luca Turin and its implications using Human Centered Design (HCD). We analyze the viability of products that could result from synthesizing digital smell using frequencies in the infrared range produced by vibrations and the general public's perceptions of these products. The results show that the technology is not readily accepted by users at the present time.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Wu, Jin,S.M.Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Venkatesh N. Murthy and Maria Yang.

• Engineering and Management Program.
• Mechanical Engineering.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122564

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122564