Periodic movements of the olfactory organs in the spiny lobster known
as antennular "flicking" temporally enhance the response of the olfactory
receptors to changes in the odor environment. The temporally
enhanced response onsets as a series of transient discharges phase
locked with the flick. This response pattern results from superimposed
increases in stimulus concentration at the receptor sites due
to flicking modulated permeability of a chemical diffusion barrier
surrounding the receptors, presumably created by the densely packed
nature of the receptor hair tuft. It is concluded that flicking
provides the lobster with a physiological mechanism to compensate
for the indiscrete temporal nature of chemical stimumi.