In the lab, researchers exposed each nostril of study participants to a different smell at the same time. Instead of the brain interpreting the two smells as a mixture of scents, participants reported perceiving the smells one after the other, “as if the nostrils were competing with each other,” Denise Chen, of Rice University in Houston, said in a news release from Cell Press, which is publishing the study online Aug. 20 in Current Biology.
— From Nostrils Compete to Relay Key Fragrance at US News.
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As we move into my allergy season…I’m happy to be able to breath thru one nostril at any given time…forget competing…I just want air without having to load up on sinus meds! Now I’m trying to imagine how I would get different scents to my nostrils simultaneously —they are after all, right next to each other….I tried smooshing my wrists together but ended up pinching the pointy end of my nose and knocking my glasses off….end of experiment. (at least until I’m wearing contacts)
LOL! Sounds like you’ll be needing a research assistant…
Good thing I had the foresight to make my own extra perfumista 18yrs ago….unfortunately she doesn’t always like the same things as me. (how rude!)
HA!
The report seems so naive. I’ve been teaching my students how to use first one nostril, then another, then both together, and filling in a form to record their impressions. Then they do contrast studies of say, rose in one nostril and sandalwood in the other, and realize they’ve trained themselves to be able to suss it all out.
The left nostril is directly wired to the left side of the brain, analytical and pragmatic, and the right to the creative side of the brain, but both will recognize independently of each other.
Guess I’m naive too, I had no idea!
You’re completely right that it’s not really “new” news. I learned about this years ago when I was completing my BA in Psychology. At that time, I also learned that because the left nostril connects to the left side of the brain and vice versa, you’re apparently more likely to be able to identify a fragrance you smell with your left nostril (“that’s sandalwood!”) whereas with your right nostril you are more likely to smell whether or not you like the fragrance (“I don’t know what it is, but is smells really great”) or trigger memories (“this reminds me of a fan my grandmother brought back from her travels in Asia”).
I’m going to take a guess here – I think the new aspect from this research may be the timing element – that you don’t experience them combined, or separately but simultaneously – you experience them one after the other.
That’s an interesting development, because I believe it works the same with hearing – if different information is sent to each of your ears, typically people will be able to listen to and comprehend one at a time.
It makes me wonder if people may have a “dominant nostril” similarly to how we apparently have a dominant ear or a dominant foot (as my husband who likes “football” (soccer) asserts).
How unusual, i would’nt put that on my skin.
Put what on your skin?