Saturday, January 18, 2014

Smelling part 2

Following up on an earlier post about human smelling, have a look at the report on the extensive language of smells among the Jahai. It isn't obvious if they can smell better (like the Tsimane), or are simply developed a better language. Repeating the latter study might tell, although it is possible that having a language of descriptions available makes you more alert.

Is there any analog for other sense? I don't think music lessons for those who don't make a career of it (e.g. me) give the student a better ability to perceive tones. I'd certainly not expect better hearing in general from such a specific training, and I'm having trouble thinking of what might usefully be tested for.

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