Binaral Rivalry between the Nostrils and in the Cortex

(Wen Zhou and Denise Chen)

I am sure you have heard of left or right eye dominance. I recently I actually found out about left and right ear dominance (apparently the left ear is great at background noise and the right ear is great at conversational noise). Now a new study published in Current Biology (August 20, 2009) shows that our nostrils compete for cortex attention just like our eyes and ears. When opposing scents were applied to the two nostrils the brain did not incorporate them into one smell but rather chose one to recognize.

From now on I will carry some mint leaves or cinnamon in my pocket and if I come across a terrible smell I will just reach for them and hope my brain chooses the right smell to accept.