Notes on Chapter 6: From Olfaction to Cognition

I found this to be a challenging chapter because it introduced a large amount of technical material that I was unfamiliar with.  In addition, I found it difficult to follow the discussion of just how one gets from olfaction to cognition - the supposed point of the chapter.

The section "From Cortext to Behavior" had the best discussion of this concept but was by no means clear.  Here is what I came away with:

• Different combinations of brain structures lead to different information about a sensation.
• Thalamo-cortical loop: what the smell means
• Cortex/amygdala: emotions or states that result from the smell, for example, hunger
• Cortex/Hippocampus: ability to recognize the context of the situation.
• Cortex: ability to form a plan such as how to approach the food.

One question that I have is what did other people come away with?  Was it basically similar to this or did they get something else out of it?

The next claim the book makes is that random access/associative regions emerged first, then point to point systems emerged.  The traditional view is the reverse.  How has this theory fared in the years since the book was published?