- Everyone has his or her own unique odor-identity or “smell fingerprint": No two people have the exact same odor-identity or “smell fingerprint” which is determined by many factors including: our genes, skin type, diet, medicine, mood state and even the weather.
- No two people smell the same odor the same way. In other words, a rose may smell sweeter to some people than to others: In fact, according to neuropsychologist, Robert Bonkowski, a person never experiences one smell the same way twice. Furthermore, an individual’s ability to detect odors changes from day to day, depending on his or her physiological condition.
- The average human being is able to recognize approximately 10,000 different odors: Our sense of smell is so powerful that when you smell skunk, you are smelling 0.000,000,000,000,071 of an ounce of scent. Dogs have about 200 million olfactory receptors. That is about 20 times the number of receptors that humans have.
- Our sense of taste is greatly influenced by our sense of smell: Our sense of smell in responsible for about 80% of what we taste. Without our sense of smell, our sense of taste is limited to only five distinct sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and the newly discovered “umami” or savory sensation. All other flavors that we experience come from smell. This is why, when our nose is blocked, as by a cold, most foods seem bland or tasteless. Our sense of smell becomes stronger when we are hungry.
- Your nose can smell directionally, telling you where an odor originates.
- Your sense of smell is least acute in the morning; our ability to perceive odors increases as the day wears on.
- A woman’s sense of smell is keener than a man’s: However, her sensitivity does change over the menstrual cycle. These changes are influenced by estrogen, which increases smell acuity in the first half of a woman’s cycle. It peaks at a time when women are most fertile and most sexually responsive.
- People recall smells with a 65% accuracy after a year, while the visual recall of photos sinks to about 50% after only three months: Our odor memories frequently have strong emotional qualities and are associated with the good or bad experiences in which they occurred.
