A team of UF Health researchers is revealing the mechanisms behind how the brain decides whether a person likes or dislikes a smell and what circuitry connects the parts of the brain involved in generating an emotional response with those responsible for smell perception. The team analyzed the brain activity of mice and found two genetically unique brain cell types in the amygdala involved in assigning odors as either good feelings or bad feelings.

“It all depends upon where that cell type projects in your brain and how it engages with structures in your brain.” says UF’s Dan Wesson. Potentially, medications could suppress some of these pathways’ activity to allow patients to overcome aversive emotional responses. Conversely, the pathways could be activated to, for example, restore enjoyment for people that lose their appetite due to illness.

• Daniel Wesson