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olfactory bulb
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Illustration showing the side view of a cat's head with its brain highlighted, alongside a labeled diagram of the cat brain identifying the olfactory bulb, cerebrum, and cerebellum. Illustration showing the brain structure of a caiman, with a side view of the reptile's head highlighting the brain's location and a labeled diagram identifying the olfactory bulb, cerebrum, optic lobe, cerebellum, and pituitary. Diagram showing the brain structure of a goose, with an illustration of a goose head and a labeled side view of the brain highlighting the olfactory bulb, cerebrum, cerebellum, pituitary, and optic lobe. Diagram showing how humans detect flavor through chemoreception, with labeled sections illustrating odor detection in the nasal cavity, taste detection on the tongue, and how both signals are integrated in the brain.
How do researchers study the mechanism of predictive coding?
Learn how the olfactory bulb in the brain processes the information from the olfactory receptors lining the nose
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Illustration showing the side view of a cat's head with its brain highlighted, alongside a labeled diagram of the cat brain identifying the olfactory bulb, cerebrum, and cerebellum.
Brain structure of the cat In the brain of mammals such as the cat, the olfactory bulb is still important, but the greatly expanded cerebrum has assumed the higher neural functions of correlation, association, and learning.

olfactory bulb

anatomy
Written by
Elizabeth Bernays
Professor emeritus of entomology, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Elizabeth BernaysAll
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

olfactory bulb, structure located in the forebrain of vertebrates that receives neural input about odours detected by cells in the nasal cavity. The axons of olfactory receptor (smell receptor) cells extend directly into the highly organized olfactory bulb, where information about odours is processed. Within the olfactory bulb are discrete spheres of nerve tissue called glomeruli. They are formed from the branching ends of axons of receptor cells and from the outer (dendritic) branches of...

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