• About
  • Masthead
    • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News
    • No image
      Performance at Punch’s Alley prompts confusion, safety concerns
    • No image
      UniLAd plans to support the local teacher union
    • No image
      Survey results reveal need for mental health support at colleges
    • News in Brief
    • Senate Report
  • Features
    • EnAct and YDSA hold crochet-in for climate action
      EnAct and YDSA hold crochet-in for climate action
    • Professor Cindy Ok Awarded Yale Younger Poets Prize
      Professor Cindy Ok Awarded Yale Younger Poets Prize
    • Trans non-binary runner talks about activism in running
      Trans non-binary runner talks about activism in running
    • Alumnae Spotlight
    • Faculty Focus
  • Opinions
    • It’s hard to not love ChatGPT
      It’s hard to not love ChatGPT
    • Under the “friendly” and “earthy” facade, Trader Joe’s hides unethical practices
      Under the “friendly” and “earthy” facade, Trader Joe’s hides unethical practices
    • Job insecurity for student workers has complex consequences
      Job insecurity for student workers has complex consequences
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Arts
    • Rio Romeo releases single “Over & Over”
      Rio Romeo releases single “Over & Over”
    • Dolly Parton confirms “Rock Star” collaborations
      Dolly Parton confirms “Rock Star” collaborations
    • MFA opens visiting exhibit “Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence”
      MFA opens visiting exhibit “Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence”
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • No image
      What even is a BORG and why does it matter?
    • Indoor Track & Field Team Prepares for Outdoors
      Indoor Track & Field Team Prepares for Outdoors
    • What even are BORGs and why do they matter?
      What even are BORGs and why do they matter?
    • Athlete of the Month
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Top ten times feminism led us astray
      Top ten times feminism led us astray
    • Song Victims
      Song Victims
    • How to: Prep your Preschooler for the College Application Process
      How to: Prep your Preschooler for the College Application Process
By Noor Pirani Eye on Science, Features, News and FeaturesOctober 25, 2018

Your nose knows the way: Senses of smell and navigation may be linked

Who would have thought that your sense of smell and your ability to navigate are related? Though this appears to be a somewhat random connection, neuroscientists published a study this month suggesting that these two traits are biologically linked, where individuals who have an acute sense of smell often have an excellent sense of direction, and vice versa.

In the past decade, evolutionary scientists have proposed that the main purpose of olfaction, or our sense of smell, is to aid in navigation. This hypothesis makes sense for animals. If a polar bear — one of the world’s most acute smellers — scent-marks its tracks or territory, it can more easily find its way back to its original spot. Smelling has also been found to help other animals in long-distance navigation. In 2017, researchers from universities in Oxford, Barcelona and Pisa found that a bird’s sense of smell plays a vital role in its ability to navigate long distances over an ocean.

Though studies investigating smell and navigation have been conducted on a variety of species, few have examined humans until one published this month. In this investigation, Louisa Dahmani and her colleagues at McGill University tested the relationship between olfaction and navigation in college-age individuals. To do so, the research team examined participants’ senses of smell, their ability to navigate, and the relative volumes of brain regions associated with these two traits.

The first part of the study consisted of assessing subjects’ sense of smell. In this section, the subject was asked to sniff odor-infused felt-tip pens and identify the smells based on four multiple-choice options. Examples of smells included grass, chocolate, ginger and lavender.

To study navigation, participants were tested on their ability to navigate through a virtual town that included streets, buildings, and eight landmarks marked by signs, such as a school or movie theater. Participants were first allowed to explore the town for 20 minutes so they could learn spatial relationships between the different landmarks, enabling them to construct a cognitive map of the virtual town. Afterwards, participants were tested on their ability to navigate from one landmark to another using the most direct route.

Through both of these tests, researchers found that those who were the best at smelling tended to be the best at navigating.

In addition to testing the subjects’ skills in navigation and olfaction, the research team also used neuroimaging to gather biological evidence for the correlation between olfaction and navigation. In particular, the team examined the relative sizes of the orbitofrontal cortex, which mediates our sense of smell, and the hippocampus, which is involved in both smelling and navigation. Both regions of the brain were found to be larger in participants that demonstrated a superior sense of smell and an adept ability to navigate through the virtual maze. Scientists then concluded that a biological link does in fact exist between olfaction and navigation.

Examining brain region volume alone isn’t enough to prove that sense of smell and navigation are linked. Researchers also studied a separate group of individuals who had damaged orbitofrontal cortices. They determined that these subjects had impaired olfaction and navigation, which further strengthened the hypothesis that the two processes were linked.

So, why does it matter that these two senses are related? For one, it offers insight about the original function of olfaction — that is, to aid in navigation. It also provides an explanation as to why the sense of smell is so important that it has persisted in organisms through time. On the surface, we might not consider our sense of smell to be very important. Sure, it’s useful for smelling burnt toast, but it turns out that it can also help us in ways we never considered — like finding our way through a new town or even a crowded room.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous article10/24/18 President’s Corner: It takes time
Next articleLanguage houses and halls cultivate community at Wellesley

You may also like

EnAct and YDSA hold crochet-in for climate action

Professor Cindy Ok Awarded Yale Younger Poets Prize

Trans non-binary runner talks about activism in running

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top