On the dimensions of the olfactory perception space

In recent works, large databases of stimuli and their corresponding olfactory perceptions have been analyzed to gain an insight into the organization of olfactory perception. Maps of these perceptions have provided evidence that the olfactory perception space is high dimensional. Based on these results, the question of the dimensionality of olfactory perception space can be asked using a new perspective. In this paper the problem of dimensionality is approached more rigorously and upper bounds on the dimensionality of the olfactory perception space are estimated. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.