That's surprisingly interesting.
As part of an experiment involving mice, Dombeck and graduate student Brad Radvansky invented what they jokingly call a “smellovision,” the world’s first system to control rapidly changing concentrations of odor for mammals as they move around in a defined space. The mice were first introduced to a virtual environment created using both visual and olfactory cues. Researchers then shut off the visual virtual reality system, forcing the mice to navigate the room in total darkness based on smell cues alone.
Even after all visual cues were taken away, the mice were able to navigate around the room just as well as before. The study demonstrates for the first time that a mammal’s brain can form a map of its surroundings based solely on smells.
The researchers also tested the system on themselves by closing their eyes and holding up to their nose a small port attached to an airflow system that pumped out a variety of scents, such as bubble gum, pine and a sour smell. Although it took intense concentration and a lot of practice, Dombeck said he and others in the lab were able to say precisely where they were in the virtual world based solely on smell.
Since the study was published, Dombeck said he’d already been contacted by a law enforcement professional asking if the technology could be used to improve training for bomb-sniffing dogs. “Maybe there’s a way that you could train the animals much more quickly with virtual reality, so that they form a very quick association,” he said.
Via Media & Entertainment News.
Originally shared by Jim Cox
chicagotonight.wttw.com - 20180305:
"A new study by researchers at Northwestern University could help tech developers incorporate smell into virtual reality systems, adding a new wrinkle to technology that has, thus far, focused primarily on visuals and audio.
“It’s been really difficult to add smell to virtual reality because it’s hard to have [smells] update rapidly,” said Daniel Dombeck, associate professor of neurobiology in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, who led the study. “If you’re walking around in a room, the smells can change really quickly. Nobody has been able to build a system to upload smells fast enough.”
#VirtualReality
https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2018/03/05/sniff-test-study-incorporates-smell-virtual-reality
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