Mechanisms in the Brain of Stimulant Odors Induced by Olfactory Electrical Stimuli

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19828
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 61:Human informatics and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Aoyama Kazuma 東京大学, 先端科学技術研究センター, 特任講師 (60783686)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 安藤 英由樹 大阪大学, 情報科学研究科, 准教授 (70447035)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 嗅覚電気刺激 / 鼻腔内科学感覚 / 経皮電気刺激 / バーチャルリアリティ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the research field of virtual reality (VR), research on displays that present the sense of smell is importance. However, olfactory presentation requires both chemical substances that induce odorants and a mechanism to present them to the nasal cavity, which requires a tank to store the odorants and an actuator to release the odorants, which are costly in terms of volume, weight, and money. The achievements of this research are (i) the development of a device to construct a lightweight, inexpensive, and compact olfactory display device by electrical stimulation, (ii) the development of a method to increase the variety of olfactory sensations with high probability by electrical stimulation, and (iii) the construction of a method to change their quality and the research efforts aimed at elucidating their mechanism.

Free Research Field

バーチャルリアリティ

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

鼻腔内に電極等を一切設置せず，高確率で鼻腔内化学感覚を惹起する手法は世界で初めて構築されたものである．鼻腔内化学感覚を化学物質を使わずに人工的に作ることができる本手法は今後の嗅覚の研究において強力なツールとなるだろう．嗅覚はVR等の体験に欠かせない重要な感覚であるとともに，情動等の人の内部状態にも強く働きかけうる感覚である．本研究は嗅覚の提示技術を作り出したというだけでなく，今後の嗅覚研究を推進する一つの強力なツールを作り出したという意義もある．