The science of smell is fragrant with submolecules (arstechnica.com)
from throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to science@mander.xyz on 05 Apr 2024 21:12
https://lemmy.nz/post/8909262

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 05 Apr 2024 21:15 collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


When we catch a whiff of perfume or indulge in a scented candle, we are smelling much more than Floral Fantasy or Lavender Vanilla.

We are actually detecting odor molecules that enter our nose and interact with cells that send signals to be processed by our brain.

“If [sub-molecular factors are part of our perception of an odor]—the percept[ion] and its neural representation would be shifted towards those of the unadapted part of that compound,” the researchers said in a study recently published in Nature Human Behavior.

Previous research has shown that adaptation to odors takes place in the piriform cortex.

Substructure adaptation causes this part of the brain to respond differently to the portions of a chemical that the nose has recently been exposed to.

This olfactory experiment showed that our brains perceive smells by doing more than just recognizing the presence of a whole odor molecule.


The original article contains 676 words, the summary contains 148 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!