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ePoster
OLFACTORY-ENHANCED VIRTUAL REALITY FOR TEACHING SENSORY INTEGRATION IN NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION
Ghizlane Bendrissand 1 co-author
Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar
FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS04-08PM-687
Presentation
Date TBA
Board: PS04-08PM-687
Event Information
Poster Board
PS04-08PM-687
Poster
View posterAbstract
Teaching sensory integration poses several logistical and conceptual challenges, as demonstrating how the brain merges visual, olfactory, gustatory, and proprioceptive information requires equipment and laboratory conditions that exceed the scope of pre-medical education. Real-world sensory experiences are difficult to control, replicate and synchronize for an entire class. Virtual Reality (VR) offers an immersive platform for exploring these mechanisms while having a control on parameters and stimuli; however, the conventional VR remains primarily visual and usually neglects olfaction, which is a critical sense for understanding emotion, memory, and flavor perception. It is also an important sense involved in multisensory integration.
This proof-of-concept project proposes a portfolio of seven olfactory-enhanced VR experiments that transform abstract sensory concepts into lived exploration. Using the Aromashooter™, odors are delivered in real time and synchronized with visual events, allowing students to explore mutisensory integration, which is difficult to address in real settings. The portfolio includes diverse scenarios to introduce the following concepts to students: 1/cross-modal flavor illusions, 2/visual-olfactory congruency and incongruency, 3/mood modulation via scents, 4/ visual-auditory-olfactory memory activation; 5/olfactory-guided maze navigation, 6/ adaptation and habituation sequences; 6/proprioceptive tasks with olfactory reward feedback.
By combining controlled visual delivery with controlled olfactory delivery, these olfactory-enhanced VR modules bridge the gap between theoretical instruction and experience-driven instruction. It provides neuroscience educators with scalable, reproducible materials for illustrating sensory integration, highlighting how smell enriches immersion, contextual learning, and retention. This approach represents a novel and practical innovation for modern neuroscience education.
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