Sense Of Smell Can Be Improved With Training, Study Says

It's well-known that resistance training can increase muscle mass and that reading has been shown to improve brain function. Now, a new study published in Nature Neuroscience suggests that one's sense of smell can also be improved through training.

The news comes after researchers at NYU's Langone Medical Center reported that they were able to train lab rats to better distinguish smells and to become familiar with different smell combinations after "repeated exposures and rewards," according to Scientific American.

The findings of the study could even aid in advancing scientific understanding of the relationship between the sense of smell and disorders like Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, according to lead researcher Donald Wilson, who spoke with the International Business Times.

"First, it suggests that the sense of smell, which seems like a much simpler process that seeing or hearing, is actually a very dynamic, complex system," Wilson told told the paper in an email. "Second, it suggests that perhaps some of the smell problems associated with disease may be helped with appropriate smell training."

But the whole of the scientific community is not yet convinced the study will have any near term affect on the treatment of these conditions or other degradation of patients' sense of smell. Honorary secretary of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngologists Andrew McCombe said he's not holding his breath for any immediate applications for the training.

"Whilst interesting research, I am not sure it's going to suddenly lead to a significant change in the way we treat loss of sense of smell which sadly is usually permanent and complete when it happens," McCombe told the BBC.

Comments

[WilmaJune]

06:27 PM on 11/23/2011

Now I have heard it all. One more waste of research money.

[bdgrizcp]

09:49 PM on 11/21/2011

Of course you can train any of your senses. You can train your tastebuds to detect taste better, you can train your eyes to pick out details, you can train your ears to hear certain sounds better and to ignore others, and of course, to a certain extent, you can ignore pain. How our senses perceive the world determines to a great extent what we are capable of doing in life. Actually, though, all we are doing is improving the way our brains, internally, process the information our senses convey. Do you think an exceptional car salesperson has a talent given at birth that cannot be improved upon? Of course not. They are just able to read you better. Onophiles cultivate the flavor of wines through a learned process of registering taste and smell together. A trained machinist can see a .0005" deviation on a two inch piece of metal without calipers. An 'ace' A/C mechanic can troubleshoot with his ears. People learn this stuff. They train themselves. Why? Because we do better in life when we do.