TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Disorders of Smell and Taste A1 - Ropper, Allan H. A1 - Samuels, Martin A. A1 - Klein, Joshua P. A1 - Prasad, Sashank PY - 2019 T2 - Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology, 11e AB - The sensations of smell (olfaction) and taste (gustation) are suitably considered together. Physiologically, these modalities share the singular attribute of responding primarily to chemical stimuli; that is, the end organs that mediate olfaction and gustation are chemoreceptors. Also, taste and smell are interdependent clinically, as the appreciation of the flavor of food and drink depends to a large extent on its aroma, and an abnormality of one of these senses is frequently misinterpreted as an abnormality of the other. In comparison to sight and hearing, taste and smell play a less critical role in the life of the individual. However, chemical stimuli in communication between humans are probably very important for some functions that have not been fully explored. Pheromones (pherein, “to carry”; hormon, “exciting”), that is, odorants exuded from the body, as well as perfumes, play a part in sexual attraction; noxious body odors may repel. In certain vertebrates the olfactory system is remarkably well developed, rivaling the sensitivity of the visual system. Though humans were thought to be capable of discriminating as many as 10,000 different odorants based on work by Reed and others, recent experimental studies by Bushdid and colleagues have shown that this may be a vast underestimation. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/11/13 UR - neurology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1162590713 ER -