Abstract
Bilateral convergence of external stimuli is a common feature of the vertebrate sensory system. This convergence of inputs from the bilateral receptive fields allows higher order sensory perception, such as depth perception in the vertebrate visual system and stimulus localization in the auditory system. The functional role of such bilateral convergence in the olfactory system is mostly unknown. To test whether each olfactory bulb contribute a separate piece of olfactory information, and whether the bilateral olfactory information is integrated and perceived as unified, we synchronized the activation of olfactory bulbs with blue light in mice expressing channelrhodopsin in olfactory sensory neurons and behaviorally assessed the relevance of dual olfactory bulb in olfactory perception. Our findings suggest that each olfactory bulb contributes separate components of olfactory information and mice integrate the olfactory information from each olfactory bulb to identify an olfactory stimulus.