Memories Of Fear Make Odors More Pungent, Study

Terror triggers a heightened sense of smell and the same emotion returns whenever our nose detects aromas associated with scary memories, Rutgers University researchers found.

The latest study was conducted on mice. Researchers used electric shocks to implant fear memories associated with certain smells in the laboratory animals, according to Daily Mail.

Neurons in the noses of laboratory mice became four times active when they detected threatening odors. Researchers explained that the animals' receptors reacted more strongly before the odor message was sent to the brain. They added that the latest findings suggest that our senses act as a "warning signal" for dangerous situations.

"What is surprising is that we tend to think of learning as something that only happens deep in the brain after conscious awareness," Daily Mail quoted John McGann from the Department of Psychology, as saying in a press statement. "But now we see how the nervous system can become especially sensitive to threatening stimuli and that fear-learning can affect the signals passing from sensory organs to the brain."

Previous studies have established that most of our sensory organs send information to the brain, which then detects what this information or signals mean.

"In the old model the eye is like a camera, the ear like a microphone, the nose like a chemistry lab, and the job of the brain is to analyze this information," McGann said.

Researchers said the next step is to see if the hypersensitivity to certain smells can be reversed. Researchers said that this could help in better understanding of fear and lead to novel treatments for PTSD and other anxiety disorders.

The findings are published in the journal Science.