The Hidden Power Of Smell: How Chemicals Influence Our Lives And Behavior
by Paul A. Moore /
2015 / English / PDF
3.1 MB Download
The main purpose of the book is to provide insight into an area
that humans often take for granted. There are wonderful and
exciting stories of organisms using chemical signals as a basis of
a sophisticated communication system. In many instances, chemical
signals can provide more detailed and accurate information than any
other mode of communication, yet this world is hidden from us
because of our focus on visual and auditory signals. Although we
have a diversity of senses available to us, humans are primarily
auditory and visual animals. These stimuli are sent to the more
cognitive areas of our brain where they are immediately processed
for information. We use sounds to communicate and music to excite
or soothe us. Our vision provides us with communication,
entertainment, and information about our world. Even though our
world is dominated by other stimulus energies, we have chosen, in
an evolutionary sense, either auditory or visual signals to carry
our most important information. This is not the case for most other
organisms. Chemical signals, mediated through the sense of smell
and taste, are typically more important and are used more often
than other sensory signals. The world of communication using
chemicals is an alien world for us. We are unaware of how important
chemical signals are to other organisms and we often overlook the
influence of chemical signals in our own life. Part of this naïveté
about chemical signals is due to our cultural focus on visual and
auditory signals, but a larger part of our collective ignorance is
the lack of information about chemical communication in both
popular and scientific writings. The popular press and popular
writings virtually ignore the chemical senses, especially in regard
to their role or influence for humans and our human culture.
Academic books and textbooks are no better.
The main purpose of the book is to provide insight into an area
that humans often take for granted. There are wonderful and
exciting stories of organisms using chemical signals as a basis of
a sophisticated communication system. In many instances, chemical
signals can provide more detailed and accurate information than any
other mode of communication, yet this world is hidden from us
because of our focus on visual and auditory signals. Although we
have a diversity of senses available to us, humans are primarily
auditory and visual animals. These stimuli are sent to the more
cognitive areas of our brain where they are immediately processed
for information. We use sounds to communicate and music to excite
or soothe us. Our vision provides us with communication,
entertainment, and information about our world. Even though our
world is dominated by other stimulus energies, we have chosen, in
an evolutionary sense, either auditory or visual signals to carry
our most important information. This is not the case for most other
organisms. Chemical signals, mediated through the sense of smell
and taste, are typically more important and are used more often
than other sensory signals. The world of communication using
chemicals is an alien world for us. We are unaware of how important
chemical signals are to other organisms and we often overlook the
influence of chemical signals in our own life. Part of this naïveté
about chemical signals is due to our cultural focus on visual and
auditory signals, but a larger part of our collective ignorance is
the lack of information about chemical communication in both
popular and scientific writings. The popular press and popular
writings virtually ignore the chemical senses, especially in regard
to their role or influence for humans and our human culture.
Academic books and textbooks are no better.
