White Smell Experiment

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Smell, as a member of our five senses, serve as a powerful instrument to trigger a memory. Smell signals received by the olfactory bulb can activate the hippocampus and the amygdala, regions in the brain that are dominant in processing memories. They store smells as tokens of memories in our brain. Although, the ability to smell play such a major role in storing and recalling memory, as Leslie Vosshall states in the article, “people have their vision and hearing tested throughout their lives, smell testing is exceedingly rare.”
The process by which memories get triggered by smells is still a complex concept to unravel. Fifth graders may perceive this process as the reason why the smell of waxy crayons remind them of their art rooms or the fruity and tempting smell of icee bring them back to summer. Neuroscientist Leslie Vosshall and her colleagues have developed a unique smell test, which they claim can aid in identifying neurological disorders at an
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It not only highlights the importance of smell testing but it removes social restrictions from the application of this science. As the living environments of various patients are not constants, it cannot be assumed that two different patients will have the same exposure to a certain smell, even if the smell is common. The innovation of white smell testing allows a patient to undergo smell testing despite their differences. The continuous research on smell testing is making this powerful tool accessible to a broad range of people.
The most powerful aspect of this innovation is that it holds the potential to identify neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer, at an early stage. As scientists have acknowledged the power of smell to evoke memories, the loss of smell can suggest an eventual loss memory. Thus, smell testings can be used to diagnose the probability of a patient developing the memory-related neurological disorder and start treatment at an earlier