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Abstract
Olfaction exhibits both high sensitivity for odours and high discrimination between
them. We suggest that to make fine discriminations between complex odorant mixtures
containing varying ratios of odorants without the necessity for highly specialized
peripheral receptors, the olfactory systems makes use of feature detection using broadly
tuned receptor cells organized in a convergent neurone pathway. As a test of this
hypothesis we have constructed an electronic nose using semiconductor transducers
and incorporating design features suggested by our proposal. We report here that this
device can reproducibly discriminate between a wide variety of odours, and its properties
show that discrimination in an olfactory system could be achieved without the use
of highly specific receptors.