Biases of the nose

The Eagle-Tribune ^ | Monday, May 23, 2005 | By Julie Kirkwood

[IYAAYAS]

Biases of the nose

By Julie Kirkwood Staff Writer

A rose by the name "burnt plastic" would in fact not smell as sweet, scientists announced last week.

A team of European researchers conducted odor experiments to see if the label of an odor changes a person's impression of what they're smelling.

They asked volunteers to sniff a cheese fragrance. When it was labeled "cheddar cheese" the volunteers rated it favorably. Yet when the same fragrance was labeled "body odor" they found it disgusting.

The preference wasn't just talk. The scientists used brain scans and saw that the words "cheddar cheese" activated the part of the brain that processes odor information. The same odor under the label "body odor" did not produce activation in this area.

The researchers used correctly labeled fragrances of flowers and burnt plastic as controls.

The results appear in the journal Neuron.

Remember, no stress

If you're already stressed out, here's some news that might stress you out further.

Chronic stress and high levels of stress hormones appear to be linked to memory problems as people get older.

Canadian researchers writing in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology conducted experiments with older adults for three to six years.

Those who had continuously high levels of cortisol in their blood got bad grades on memory tests. Also, they tended to have a smaller hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.

The researchers looked at young adults, too. When young adults experienced spikes in stress hormones they suffered temporary memory troubles, the scientists report.

So stress is bad not only because it can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease, they say, but because it can make you forgetful.

The solution: Just forget your stress. No problem, right?

Joe's work habits

If you picked up the tone of sarcasm in that last comment, consider yourself skilled. Sarcasm is a tricky form of communication, according to Israeli psychologists writing in the May issue of Neuropsychology.

Understanding sarcasm is linked to the part of the brain involved in our highest cognitive functions. As the researchers in this study demonstrated, damage to the prefrontal lobe of the brain can render sarcasm virtually undetectable.

To explore this phenomenon the researchers asked volunteers to listen to stories recorded by actors, some using sarcasm and some without.

For example, when Joe's boss tells him "Don't work too hard!" he probably means it literally if Joe is actually working hard. And if Joe's feet are up on the desk and he's reading a magazine, the comment is probably sarcastic.

The press release touting the finding makes this telling observation: "The findings fit what we already know about brain anatomy."

Sounds like ground-breaking research.

Did you catch it?

Julie Kirkwood's Health and Science Journal runs in the Monday Eagle-Tribune. Reach her at (978) 946-2251 or via e-mail at jkirkwood@eagletribun.com.

[LauraleeBraswell]

Some bad smells are cultural. One of our government agencies was testing a stink bomb as an alternative to tear gas and they had to take information like this into consideration.