Is smell important?
Have you ever thought about this question carefully? No? So, now take a moment to think about it. Is it important for you? Can you imagine yourself without it? Is it useful?
Memory
First, before talking about the sense of smell, I will mention some facts concerning memory. Memory is the ability we have to recall information and past experiences. Now you are probably thinking why is she talking about memory if the project is about smell? This is the answer for your question: our sense of smell is to some extent linked to our memory, probably more than any other sense. Sometimes our olfactory sense can be linked to a memory, like for example someone’s perfume.
What is smell?
According to Schacter et al., the smell is detected by the neurons that we have in our nose that are identified by a part of our brain. The smell consists of molecules in the air caused by fluid-phase chemicals. A curiosity is that a person can recognize about 10.000 different types of odors.
Memory and smell
Is there a smell that reminds you of someone or something? I don´t know about you, but I do. One example about myself is the scent of banana and vanilla and Johnson´s Baby. They remind me of my dog. Another example is of a restaurant owner that could smell the gas and save everyone before the restaurant caught fire.
My personal memory
I also have a great memory of the school, I remember the perfume of a teacher that I had in year 1 or 2. Although I don´t remember her very well, I remember her smell. She had a very sweet and good smell, and I liked her very much, she was very kind and always helped me. Furthermore, she was very percipient. At this point she has probably changed her perfume. Nowadays she stays at kinder 2, I see her sometimes around school. We called her Patty.
The importance of smell
Wrapping up, after a lot of research it can be stated that smell is essential for the human being because it can help us survive. For example, in case of fire we would smell it and know about it before we get burned. Moreover, our sense of smell is connected to our memories and they can remind us of something or someone who is significant to you.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfaction
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/O/Olfaction.html
