Something can smell horrendous at first, but then we don’t notice it as much. Why?
In: Biology
its a process called habitutation and is a body response to stimuli when were are repeatedly exposed to a stimulus. It is something that occurs with all the body’s sense and is not exclusive to smell. Most research i am aware of suggests its a survival response used by the body to accommodate the constant barrage of sensory stimuli. If you never were able to tune out some stimulus your body/mind would become overwhelmed very quickly. This is also similar to why we just straight up tune out some things completely. Things your body is aware of as being unimportant or non threatening are tuned out to allow your conscious mind to perceive only those things that are the most important. Its basically your bodys way of being able to remain aware of environmental stimuli after its processed and become aware of certain things. Partially a survival mechanism and is present in most living organisms
Your senses don’t detect *things*; they detect *changes* in things.
You detect a new smell, but then you don’t detect it anymore if it just stays there a long time and never changes.
Imagine your nose is like a really eager puppy. When it first smells something new, it gets super excited and barks loudly to tell your brain, “Hey! There’s a new smell here!”But if the smell sticks around, your nose puppy gets bored, just like how a real puppy might stop barking at a squirrel if it stays in the same spot for too long
Same reason you stop feeling your clothes all the time.
Nerve gets stimulated. You take notice. Stimulate again in a short enough time period and the nerve&brain say “ignore that, not new input”.
Smells are the same.
Latest Answers