The human sense of smell
Although the human sense of smell is feeble compared to that of
many animals, it is still very acute. We can recognise thousandsof
different smells, and we are able to detect odours even ininfinitesimal
quantities.
Our smelling function is carried out by two small odourdetecting
patches - made up of about five or six million yellowish cells -
high up in the nasal passages.
For comparison, a rabbit has 100 million of these olfactory receptors,
and a dog 220 million. Humans are nonethelesscapable of detecting
certain substances in dilutions of less than one part in several
billion parts of air. We may not be able to match the olfactory
feats of bloodhounds, but we can, for example, ëtrackí
a trail of invisible human footprints across clean blotting paper.
The human nose is in fact the main organ of taste as well as smell.
The so-called taste-buds on our tongues can only distinguish four
qualities - sweet, sour, bitter and salt -all other ëtastesí
are detected by the olfactory receptors high up in our nasal passages
V a r i a t i o n s
Our smelling ability increases to reach a plateau at about the age
of eight, and declines in old age. Some researchers claim that our
smell-sensitivity begins to deteriorate long before old age, perhaps
even from the early 20s. One experiment claims to indicate a decline
in sensitivity to specific odours from the age of 15! But other
scientists report that smelling ability depends on the personís
state of mental and physical health, with some very healthy 80-year-olds
having the same olfactory prowess as young adults.
Women consistently out-perform men on all tests of smelling ability
(see Sex differences, below). Schizophrenics, depressives, migraine
sufferers and very-lowweight anorexics often experience olfactory
deficits or
dysfunctions. One group of researchers claims that certain psychiatric
disorders are so closely linked to specific olfactory deficits that
smell-tests should be part of diagnostic procedures. Zinc supplements
have been shown to be successful in treating some smell and taste
disorders.
Although smoking does not always affect scores on smell-tests, it
is widely believed to reduce sensitivity.A recent study at the University
of Pennsylvania suggests that, contrary to popular belief, blind
people do not necessarily have a keener sense of smell than sighted
people. In their experiments on blind and sighted people, the top
performers on most tests were (sighted) employees of the Philadelphia
Water Department who had been trained to serve on the Departmentís
water quality evaluation panel. The researchers conclude that training
is the factor most likely to enhance performance on smell tests.
(University of Pennsylvania researchers are probably fairly clued-up
on this subject - they designed the University of
Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) which is the standard
test used in almost all experiments.)
The importance of ëtrainingí in the development of smellsensitivity
is confirmed by many other studies. Indeed, this factor can sometimes
be a problem for researchers, as subjects in repetitive experiments
become increasingly skilled at detecting the odours involved.
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