A Rose By Any Other Name… The Brain and Smell
We spend most of our time at Posit Science working on improving brain performance by training our brains to deal with sight and sound more quickly and accurately. I read an article in Discover about the brain’s contribution to our sense of smell that was fascinating.
The article dispelled a myth I had believed about human’s poor ability to distinguish between smells. While we don’t have the same capability of some other animals (think bloodhound), what we do have is pretty remarkable. Two startling examples were that our sense of small can detect concentrations as low as 1 molecule in 10 billion (that’s how we can smell a natural gas leak) and that a group of researchers, led by Noam Sobel, found that participants could find and follow 30 yards of chocolate-scented twine placed randomly in an open field after all other senses (sight, sound, touch) had been obscured. Those are wonderful examples of the power of our proboscis.
But there was something even more interesting about the follow-the-twine experiment. The researchers also found that participants got better (more accurate, faster) with training. In addition to wondering what type of chocolate (hopefully dark) was used and my willingness to sign-up for the next similar experiment, I made a connection to neuroplasticity.
We don’t often push our brains to recognize distinct smells unless we’re a chef or a sommelier. This is a clear case of improving another brain function through practice- and another example of the brain’s ability to improve when challenged.
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Posted: Brain exercise, Brain plasticity, Neuroscience, Research studies
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May 10th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
1) The ability to smell is very trainable. Dr. Feynman trained his ability to smell which book had been handled when he had been out of the room.
2) The sent sensitivity seems to vary by several orders of magnitude between people.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I read a fascinting thing related to smell today (though to be honest, I’m not sure how it relates to the brain). Here’s an excerpt about a scientist who has received a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation for his work:
“[John] Ngai, the Coates Family Professor of Neuroscience at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, studies the genetic and molecular basis of the sense of smell. Because the female reproductive system lays down a trail of odor-like molecules to draw swimming sperm toward the egg for fertilization, he and post-doctoral fellow Scott Laughlin propose to confuse the sperm with excess odorant and thereby prevent sperm from finding egg.
‘We believe this novel contraceptive could work when administered to either female or male party, orally or topically,’ he wrote in his application. ‘It could be used discreetly by women, and, based on the properties of known odorants, these molecules should be amenable to cheap production for widespread distribution in economically disadvantaged regions.’”
I had no idea that smell had anything to do with reproduction at the level described above.
Here’s the source: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/05/10_gates_foundation.shtml
May 12th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
I couldn’t see at first (this in itself has implications for coma). I learned to identify people by smell. There was one nurse in particular who really put on the cologne. I could tell as soon as he stepped off the elevator.
My vision eventually returned, but the heightened sense of smell remained. I’ve since learned of the importance of aroma therapy.
May 12th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
That’s very interesting … how could Dr. Feynman tell which book had been handled?