London - When we suffer a scary experience we can often feel that the smell of fear is in the air.
And scientists have discovered that we’re right – as our sense of smell becomes much more active when we’re frightened.
Therefore, whatever we can smell when we’re feeling fearful is absorbed into our memories and the same emotion is triggered whenever the aroma returns.
The study’s researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey say the finding could be used to find treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, in which senses can trigger an attack.
They developed the new theory after testing the brain activity of mice. Using electric shocks, they implanted fear memories associated with particular smells. When the same ones were wafted towards the mice again, the smell receptors became four times as active.
The findings suggest that our senses act as a “warning signal” for dangerous situations.
Neurologists think smells trigger memories because the olfactory nerve – which carries messages from the nostrils to the brain – is located very close to the amygdala and hippocampus, the areas connected to emotional memory. - Daily Mail