It is human nature to have thoughts of death in our minds, and the way we imagine death is associated with a dead animal, human, bird or fly. What’s the connection between all of this, but we haven’t thought about it before? Smell.
Recent research has shown that the human nose is capable of detecting a wide range of odors that cannot be classified into any known category, but reacts to them. Such as odors derived from a chemical called putrescine. It is a chemical produced when the body begins to decompose, and it is important to know that the smell is the result of many years of evolution of necrotic behavior in animals, and these responses are believed to have developed at least 420 million years ago. before.
It is believed that animals react to the smell of putrescine as a sense of danger in two ways: a reaction to the presence of a predator, and secondly, their instincts tell them that their lives are in danger. to escape.
Scientists conducted four different experiments on humans with a mixture of putrescine, water, and ammonia, and confirmed that human reactions and behavior are no different from animals.
Vigilance
The first experiment tested participants’ alertness by exposing them to the smell of putrescine. The results showed that participants exposed to the smell of patrescine were more alert than those exposed to ammonia or water.
Escape behavior
In a second experiment, the researchers tested a group of unsuspecting people who were tasked with rating the intensity, repulsiveness, and familiarity of an odor. The researchers wanted to see how fast participants could walk 80 meters in response to a scent. Those who smelled the tooth odor tended to move away from the area more quickly, suggesting that the odor is a powerful escape motivator.
Escape and threat recognition
In another experiment, after exposing the group to the smell of putrescine, the researchers tasked the participants with filling in word stems.
The results showed that the smell of putrescine led the group to complete word stems, all of which were associated with the words escape and escape. A scent has also been added to use slang words.
Defense and hostility
Finally, participants were exposed to a very pleasant odor that they did not find. In this experiment, they were given a text to read and tasked with judging its author.
Because they failed to detect the subtle smell of putrescine, participants showed defensiveness and hostility toward the author. In addition, unconscious exposure to odors has been shown to elicit protective behaviors in participants.
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