Human Sense of Smell Is Faster Than Previously Thought, New Study Suggests 23
A new study reveals that the human sense of smell is far more sensitive than previously thought, capable of distinguishing odors and their sequences within just 60 milliseconds. CNN reports: In a single sniff, the human sense of smell can distinguish odors within a fraction of a second, working at a level of sensitivity that is "on par" with how our brains perceive color, "refuting the widely held belief that olfaction is our slow sense," a new study finds. Humans also can discern between various sequences of odors -- distinguishing a sequence of "A" before "B" from sequence "B" before "A" -- when the interval between odorant A and odorant B is merely 60 milliseconds, according to the study, published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior. [...]
The new findings challenge previous research in which the timing it took to discriminate between odor sequences was around 1,200 milliseconds, Dr. Dmitry Rinberg, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at NYU Langone Health in New York, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in Nature Human Behavior. "The timing of individual notes in music is essential for conveying meaning and beauty in a melody, and the human ear is very sensitive to this. However, temporal sensitivity is not limited to hearing: our sense of smell can also perceive small temporal changes in odor presentations," he wrote. "Similar to how timing affects the perception of notes in a melody, the timing of individual components in a complex odor mixture that reaches the nose may be crucial for our perception of the olfactory world."
The ability to tell apart odors within a single sniff might be an important way in which animals detect both what a smell is and where it might be in space, said Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta, a professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the new study. "The demonstration that humans can tell apart smells as they change within a sniff is a powerful demonstration that timing is important for smell across species, and therefore is a general principle underlying olfactory function. In addition, this study sheds important light on the mysterious mechanisms that support human odor perception," Datta wrote in an email. "The study of human olfaction has historically lagged that of vision and hearing, because as humans we think of ourselves as visual creatures that largely use speech to communicate," he said, adding that the new study helps "fill a critical gap in our understanding of how we as humans smell."
The new findings challenge previous research in which the timing it took to discriminate between odor sequences was around 1,200 milliseconds, Dr. Dmitry Rinberg, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at NYU Langone Health in New York, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in Nature Human Behavior. "The timing of individual notes in music is essential for conveying meaning and beauty in a melody, and the human ear is very sensitive to this. However, temporal sensitivity is not limited to hearing: our sense of smell can also perceive small temporal changes in odor presentations," he wrote. "Similar to how timing affects the perception of notes in a melody, the timing of individual components in a complex odor mixture that reaches the nose may be crucial for our perception of the olfactory world."
The ability to tell apart odors within a single sniff might be an important way in which animals detect both what a smell is and where it might be in space, said Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta, a professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the new study. "The demonstration that humans can tell apart smells as they change within a sniff is a powerful demonstration that timing is important for smell across species, and therefore is a general principle underlying olfactory function. In addition, this study sheds important light on the mysterious mechanisms that support human odor perception," Datta wrote in an email. "The study of human olfaction has historically lagged that of vision and hearing, because as humans we think of ourselves as visual creatures that largely use speech to communicate," he said, adding that the new study helps "fill a critical gap in our understanding of how we as humans smell."
Anecdotally it's even faster... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
"Similar to how timing affects the perception of notes in a melody"... something something... smelly musical notes! *FART SOUND*
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Anecdotally it's even faster... (Score:2)
If you take public transit (Score:1)
You can predict who will smell like tobacco juice and as soon as the door opens it's confirmed.
Secret powers (Score:3)
To my thinking, the most fascinating aspect of this is how we didn't already know. Humans have had noses for, like, decades now; you would think that (a) we would already have quite a good handle on what they can and can't do, and (b) those capabilities would be intuitively and straightforwardly testable, in equivalent circumstances to how they would be naturally used. It didn't require a great leap of logic to make an eye chart, or to play quiet sounds into headphones... but testing this required nontrivial mechanical and biomedical engineering work.
It seems a little like this capability is "vestigial, but only just". As in, you wouldn't have to backtrack very far through the primates to find one that could do this, knew it could do it, and needed to do it... and despite that we don't really, there hasn't been enough time for genetic bit-rot to set in and screw up the fundamental ability.
Re: Secret powers (Score:2)
The question is always what are you testing and how. We know roughly how many times more sensitive a dogs nose is compared to humans, that is an easy metric of PPM of âoecontaminantsâ in the air. For these kinds of studies however you often depend on study design, what do you mean by faster, faster to the brain, faster to be picked up by EEG, faster for MRI, faster reaction speeds, those are all things that are literally within hundreds of milliseconds of each other. Besides that we evolved to rea
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there hasn't been enough time for genetic bit-rot to set in and screw up the fundamental ability.
There have been decades of biological bit-rot, courtesy of "tobacco". Smoking used to be the norm in America. Even if not actively smoking, the tobacco smell gets everywhere, blocking out others.
Why can't I imagine smells? (Score:4, Insightful)
I can conjure up/imagine sounds and images , even touch, but not smells. However I still remember smells and so can recognise them when I smell them. Is it just me or is everyone like that?
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Odour is the most effective memory trigger but most people remember an emotion or a visual.
The Speed of Smell (Score:3)
That answers my question (Score:3)
The new model of the neo-cortex is, one experiences an emotion, then rationalizes it. That leads to a problem, such as, I feel fear, then decide it's the python squeezing me to suffocation. (Hint: Unwrap a python from tail to head.) If I don't have a reason, why am I afraid? This is why: We process colours, odours, and audio long before our rational mind activates. How much is instinct (such as cats' fear of cucumbers) in humans is unknown and difficult to calculate. Humans for the most part, have to learn what is harmful or lethal, we aren't born with concepts of dangerous and enemy.
The speed of sound (Score:2)
I can smell a fart the moment I hear one in the room.
Also confirmed (Score:2)
The researchers also confirmed conclusively that he who smelt it, dealt it.
Once again an old wives tale proves out (Score:3)
It's a wonderful thing when modern science and old, long-standing axiom wind up in agreement. If humans are indeed "capable of distinguishing odors and their sequences within just 60 milliseconds", it seems reasonable to infer that whoever is closest to an odor will be the first to recognize it, followed by others who are more distant.
Thus, for the first time, we can state with confidence inspired by support from the scientific community that, "Whoever smelt it, dealt it".
Not sure it is measuring the headline (Score:2)
Of course it's fast (Score:2)
Try farting in bed, wearing a cpap mask.
Olfactory overload? (Score:2)
I have to wonder if part of the reason it's taken so long for us to figure this out has to do with how overloaded our sense of smell is in the modern world. We are exposed to so many strong scents simultaneously, that the quick succession of ONLY two different scents as described in TFA is probably very rare.
For several reasons, my wife and I have a home largely free of artificial scents. Sure, we have various manufactured products outgassing as they do. But we use unscented laundry detergent, we don't use