Olfactory Stimulus Control Evaluated in a Small Animal Olfactometer

A fully automated air-stream olfactometer and test chamber are described. Studies with rats using a discrete trials, go, no-go training procedure demonstrate that olfactory discriminations are acquired rapidly and, under appropriate conditions, with few or no errors. During training, the rat makes an easily measured stimulus sampling response on each trial (sniffing at the air inlet port). Sampling duration varies with problem difficulty and provides a valuable adjunctive measure of discrimination behavior.