Scents and Nonsense

The olfactory sense modality is closely associated with frontal and temporal brain regions. In schizophrenia, disturbed sense of smell can be an early warning sign. This can assist assessment since it shows a change in the underlying cognitive and emotional disturbances. This has been demontrated in the last research on the neuroanatomy of the olfactory system.

Medscape December 2009

Sense of Smell

Smell has a powerful effect on our emotions explains Rachel Herz in her new book "The Scent of Desire" Published by William Morrow.



Facts

• We can detect more than 10,000 distinct odors with over 20 million sense receptors.
• Smell plays a powerful role in sexual attraction.
• Women prefer the body odor of men whose genes are noticeably different to their own. This assists to promote genetic diversity in species.
• Vanilla is thought to be the most universally favoured scent probably because breast milk contains this similar flavour .
• There are distinct individual and cultural preferences. For example, many asian people find the smell of cheese noxious while british people find wintergreen more unpleasant.
• Losing the sense of smell may be associated with a symptom of depression.
• Depressed people treated with anti depressants report the sense of smell returns.
• Women may have a better sense of smell than men except when menstruating when this ability declines considerably.