Our brains process odors differently depending on the names assigned to them, according to new research.
Our brains process odors differently depending on the names assigned to them, according to new research. Participants were asked to sniff similar odors, for example two citrus scents, and then rate how dissimilar they thought the odors were. Researchers found that identical odors which had been given different names were rated as being more dissimilar than if they were labeled as being the same. By using ultrahigh-field functional MRI technology, the researchers could see how the information, the odor and labels, was processed in the area of the brain that identifies odor, and how this differed depending on the label used. This research helps us better understand the context-dependent experience of odors and how language can affect our daily life.
Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Or stinky tofu as … stinky? Maybe not. It turns out that the labels we give to things affect the way we perceive their odor and, according to new research, can even make us think that identical odors smell different. Researchers have discovered that giving names to odors not only affects our perception of them but how they are processed in our primary olfactory cortex, the area of our brains related to our sense of smell.
Participants were given minty and citrusy odors to sniff, which had been labeled with two words; for example, mint-menthol or eucalyptus-menthol. While sniffing, participants were scanned using an ultrahigh-field (7-tesla) functional MRI (fMRI) machine. While MRIs take snapshots of the brain, fMRIs enable researchers to see activity in the brain over time, in this case where in the brain the information about the labeled odors was being processed. After the scan, participants sniffed the odors again, but this time presented in pairs, and then rated how similar or different they thought the odors were from each other. In this second round, the odors and their labels were either the same, or two identical odors were given different labels, or different odors were given the same name.
Read more at University of Tokyo
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