SSS 2012-04-12

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When an animal faces a predator¹, its senses go into overdrive. So scientists wondered, could human anxiety be an evolutionary² legacy³ to protect us against potential threats? And if so, might anxious people have a heightened sense of smell, presumably to detect predators⁴ or disease-carriers. Researchers repeatedly tested 14 men's perception of odors, including bad ones. In some trials, the men were in an MRI scanner, and odors were faint. Participants were simply asked if they could detect a scent⁵, yes or no. They were also tested for anxiety, their breathing and skin electrical conductivity were measured, as in a lie detector⁶. Subjects also estimated their anxiety on a 100 point scale.  Turns out that the more anxious men were significantly better at detecting lower concentrations of scents⁷, particularly nasty ones. They also were more likely to become emotionally aroused in the presence of bad smells. Research was published online in the journal Chemosensory Perception. So if you wig⁸ out before say a driving exam, remember that anxiety may be part of constellation⁹ of physical traits that evolved for survival when the threat was an odorous lion, not a onerous¹⁰ licensor¹¹. 

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American, 60-second science. I'm Cynthia Graber. 

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