FRIDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) -- Anxiety improves a person's
ability to smell potentially threatening odors, according to a new
study.
Smell is essential to animals in order to detect, locate and
identify predators. Odors also trigger powerful emotional responses
in humans, the study authors pointed out.
Researchers Elizabeth Krusemark and Wen Li of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison exposed 14 young adults to different types of
odors while they underwent MRI brain scans. The participants'
anxiety levels and breathing patterns were also recorded.
As the volunteers' anxiety levels rose, so did their ability to
detect negative odors. The investigators also found that
communication between the sensory and emotional areas of the brain
increased in response to negative odors, particularly when people
were anxious.
This heightened communication between these brain areas could be
an important mechanism to boost awareness of potential threats, the
researchers said.
The study was published in a recent online issue of the journal
Chemosensory Perception.
More information
The Social Issues Research Centre has more about the sense of
smell.