Selective olfactory deficits in case H.M.

Abstract

A variety of olfactory capacities were evaluated in H.M., a patient with bilateral medial temporal lobe resection. He demonstrated normal performance on a battery of tests of odour detection, discrimination of intensity, and adaptation. In striking contrast, H.M. was unable to discriminate or identify odours in same-different discriminations and in matching-to-sample tasks. Although he could name common objects using visual or tactile cues, he could not identify them by smell. These results indicate that the perceptual phenomena of odour detection and discrimination are dissociable by cerebral damage, and that structures in the medial temporal lobe play a critical role in odour discrimination.