In the news story, the connection between the human sense of smell and avoidance behavior is discussed. The authors claim that previously the human reaction to unpleasant odors was believed to be a conscious cognitive response. However, the researchers at Karolinska Institute created a method allowing to measure the impulses coming from the olfactory bulb, the first central department of the human olfactory system. The invention is measuring the electrical activity of the olfactory bulb and the electrical activity of the brain areas that are responsible for avoidance behavior. As it was calculated by investigators, after a person breathes in an odor, signals reach special areas of the brain in 100-150 milliseconds. If the odor is unpleasant, the person automatically leans back from the smell. The researchers concluded that the sense of smell is vital for human beings, and it plays a role in unconscious reaction to danger when meeting unsavory scents.
The main idea of the news story is to prove that the nature of human reactions to unpleasant smells is unconscious and is aimed to save human lives from dangerous situations. The major evidence supporting the thesis is the rapidness of the human reactions to unsavory odors that were measured by the innovative method of the signal transmitting to the specific areas of the brain. The latter proves that human conscious reactions cannot take such a small period and are more likely to be a response using unconscious mechanisms. Questions that can be asked for future research are the interconnections between different areas of the brain influencing avoidance behavior and the rapidness of reactions of other sense organs. To find more data on this topic, scholarly journal articles can be used to broadcast knowledge and identify innovative findings on human sense organs.