Smell, don't close your eyes

Many people who have a habit of needing to " smell" something smell close their eyes, thinking that doing so may focus more on perception. Is that true?

In the journal Neuroscience, published by a scientist's study, activating the area responsible for looking at the brain increases sensitivity to odor . This result denies the theory of neurophysiologists, suggesting that each sensory organ is an independent part of the brain. For example, the signals of the visual organs (retina), transmitted only to the visual area, also the signals of the olfactory organ (nasal mucosa), transmitted only to the olfactory region.

Closing your eyes when sniffing doesn't mean you can feel the full scent of flowers.

The demonstration experiment was attended by researchers from Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University in Canada and Monell Chemical Sensory Center in Philadelphia (USA). They allowed volunteers to smell different odors before and after stimulating the visual area on the brain with magnetic fields. This method is often used by hospitals to treat certain diseases.

The experiment demonstrated that stimulating the region responsible for looking at the brain with magnetic fields has a special effect on the olfactory bulb: the ability of the volunteers to sense the smell increased dramatically. Look and smell closely related to each other.

From these results, scientists hypothesize about the interaction of the region in charge of sensory organs, through the relationship between smell and sight. This hypothesis is now recognized: the neurons of the visual region are made up of a circuit connected to the 'odor analyzer' of the sense of smell.