S&P: Smell & Taste

- smell affects perception
- based on smell we can differenteiate between genders

- scent molecules are volatile which means they give off vapours, and they are also fat-soluable which allows us to absorb odors
- in order to smell things, the scent molecules must be fat soluble

- this is a way to classify odors
- it's good because it allows you to break smells down and represent them geometrically
- flaws are that it doesn't work for all smells (some smells cannot be described by the words provided)

- this compares odors with other odors, it allows us to group scents together
- instead of labelling odors, you get to rate the similarity & dissimilarities
- easier to do

- Perceived strength of the odor isn't affecfted by how hard you're smelling
- sniffing a scent and breathing normally doesn't make you sense the smell stronger

- the Olfactory sensory neurons transduce odour stimulation into neural signals and transmit them to the brain (olfactory cortex) via the olfactory bulb.
- the Olfactory Epithelium captures odor molecules and trasduces into neural signal (mucous -> neurons -> supporting cells)

- different odor molecules have different shapes within one shape
- within one shape there are many different scents
- if you are missing one protein, then you will be insensitive to a certain kind of smell

- the opithemium is at the top of the nasal cavity
- the incoming axons from the olfactory epithelium activate neurons in the receiving stage of the olfactory bulb and they form clusters on the olfactory bulb (glomeruli)

- emotion (amygdala)
- memory (piriform, entorhinal cortex & hypothalamus)
- reward (thalamus & orbitofrontal cortex)

- inability to detect and identify smells

- the pattern of response by the olfactory sensory neurons determines the "smell" of the object

- sensitivity varies for different odors
- we are better at detecting odors than saying what odor we are smelling
- affected by age and gender
- women are more sensitive to scents/better at identifying scents

- we may be senstive in discriminating between different odors
- identification relies heavily on memory

- exposure to an odor decreases sensitivity to that odor
- if a test odor is similar to the adapting odor, then sensitivity to the test odor decreases
- dissimilar odors don't influence eachother as much

- because it uses 2 sets of information (from the world and in the mouth)
- once an object is placed in the mouth, the role of olfaction changes to taste perception
- ex. smelly cheese has the ability to taste good