What COVID-19 is teaching us about the importance of smell, with Pamela Dalton, PhD

Speaking of Psychology

Kim Mills

Health & Fitness, Life Sciences, Science, Mental Health

4.3 • 781 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many people around the world have lost their sense of smell this past year due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, scientists had already begun to gain a deeper understanding of how sophisticated our sense of smell is and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health. Now, the pandemic is giving that research new urgency. Pamela Dalton, PhD, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, discusses what we know about how our sense of smell works, the connections between smell, emotions and memory, how a rapid smell test could improve COVID-19 screening, how she developed the “world’s worst smell,” and more. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Pamela Dalton, PhD Monell Chemical Senses Center Music Electronic Ambient Loop by tyops via Freesound.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Twas the night before Christmas when all through our home, friends were waiting for drinks at the party we'd thrown.
0:07.2	With an espresso martini mixer from Fever Tree, all you need to add is the vodka, you see.
0:14.2	Five espresso martinis ready in a second. A Christmas miracle, everybody reckoned.
0:23.9	So this holiday season mix with the best,
0:29.7	with fever tree cocktails for you and your guests. Please enjoy responsibly.
0:36.5	Smell has been called our most underappreciated sense. When people think about it, if they think about it at all, many consider it an evolutionary
0:39.3	relic, something that is important for animals but not for us humans.
0:43.3	We tend to think we aren't even that good at detecting smells, certainly not as good as our dogs,
0:47.3	for instance.
0:48.3	About 10 years ago, a national poll found that more than half of young people said they'd
0:52.8	be willing to give up their sense of smell before they'd give up their laptop or cell phone.
0:57.0	But in recent years, scientists have begun to learn more about this overlooked sense and how to gain a new understanding of how sophisticated human sense of smell really is, and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health.
1:09.0	Now the COVID-19 pandemic is giving this
1:12.2	research new urgency because one common side effect of the virus, even among people with otherwise
1:17.7	mild cases, is the loss of smell or changes in the sense of smell. Some people recover their
1:23.6	sense quickly, but for others, the changes seem to be long-lasting or perhaps even permanent.
1:29.2	Why is this happening? And what are the consequences for those who are affected?
1:33.6	More broadly, how important is our sense of smell? What are the connections between smell
1:38.2	and our emotions? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American
1:43.2	Psychological Association
1:45.0	that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.
1:49.0	I'm Kim Mills.
	...

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