Smell is the fastest sense in keeping us from danger
Mammals use a variety of things to inform us of danger. Sound, sight, and hearing are all used to help keep us safe. But, now, scientists have discovered that it's our sense of smell that produces the quickest response to a threat. Summary is below.
The ability to detect and react to the smell of a potential threat is a precondition of our and other mammals' survival. Using a novel technique, researchers have been able to study what happens in the brain when the central nervous system judges a smell to represent danger. The study indicates that negative smells associated with unpleasantness or unease are processed earlier than positive smells and trigger a physical avoidance response.
Up until now, we have believed that sensing danger through smell was a conscious effort on our part. This experiment has shown it is actually, in fact, an unconscious response and happens much quicker than previously thought.
When we smell something that we associate with a dangerous situation, that response enters our brains and sends a signal to the rest of the nervous system that danger is near in between 100-150 milliseconds. Now, that's fast!
According to associate professor, Johan Lundstrom, "The results suggest that our sense of smell is important to our ability to detect dangers in our vicinity, and much of this ability is more unconscious than our response to danger mediated by our senses of vision and hearing." Read the full original article by clicking below.
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