• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

Emerging Science Note/What the Nose Knows

Air Date: Week of

Living on Earth's Katie Zemtseff reports on the power of suggestion and our sense of smell.



Transcript

CURWOOD: Just ahead: the perils and promises of bringing a remote mountain kingdom in global commerce and communications. First, this Note on Emerging Science from Katie Zemsteff.

ZEMTSEFF: The power of suggestion can influence everything from how we eat to how we shop. And now, scientists say it can also affect how we smell.

Researchers at Oxford University monitored the brain variations of 12 subjects who were exposed to various smells. As different odors were presented, words would appear inside special glasses worn by the subjects. After each odor the subject would rate the smell as pleasant or unpleasant. Smells ranged from the unmistakable odors of flowers and burned plastic to more ambiguous scents resembling cheddar cheese. In these cases, scientists paired the cheesy smells with the phrases ‘cheddar cheese,’ or ‘body odor.’ Not surprisingly, subjects rated the pleasantness of what they smelled much higher when it was called cheese, rather than body odor.

Turns out, the cheddar cheese label produced a sensation in the part of the brain where pleasant odors are processed. Scentless air labeled cheddar cheese also activated this area. But the cheesy smell label “body odor” produced no activity at all – giving credence to the theory that what our brain sees outweighs what it smells – even if the information is inaccurate.

So next time you’re unsure how fresh your milk is, do yourself a favor and “follow your nose” – not the claims of freshness on the label. That’s this week’s Note on Emerging Science, I’m Katie Zemtseff.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth