Sniffing Behaviour, or Recognizing a Lily by Smell, but not Recognizing a Sock on Sight

Disinhibition of olfaction: Human olfactory performance improves following low levels of alcohol

“…This is not the only report of rapid-onset hyper-olfaction. In a separate case, following stroke, a 65 year-old man shifted to olfactory exploration as his primary mode of object investigation, and tended toward better spontaneous odor naming in comparison to healthy controls [15]. Whereas the influence of training and conditioning may be attributable to plasticity anywhere in the olfactory system [16], and the influence of drugs may reflect peripheral mechanisms such as cannabinoid effects on CB1-receptors in the olfactory bulb [17,18], rapid-onset hyper-olfaction following stroke implies the unveiling of olfactory capabilities that were previously masked or inhibited.…”