RT Book, Section A1 Ropper, Allan H. A1 Samuels, Martin A. A1 Klein, Joshua P. A1 Prasad, Sashank SR Print(0) ID 1199441853 T1 Disorders of Smell and Taste T2 Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology, 12e YR 2023 FD 2023 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781264264520 LK neurology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1199441853 RD 2024/03/28 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 social and 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 (Reed), more recent experimental studies have shown that this may be a vast underestimation (Bushdid and colleagues).