“Mechanisms of Scent-Tracking in Humans”, Jess Porter, Brent Craven, Rehan M. Khan, Shao-Ju Chang, Irene Kang, Benjamin Judkewitz, Jason Volpe, Gary Settles, Noam Sobel2006-12-17 (human olfaction; similar)⁠:

Whether mammalian scent-tracking is aided by inter-nostril comparisons is unknown.

We assessed this in humans and found that (1) humans can scent-track, (2) they improve with practice, (3) the human nostrils sample spatially distinct regions separated by ~3.5 cm and, critically, (4) scent-tracking is aided by inter-nostril comparisons.

These findings reveal fundamental mechanisms of scent-tracking and suggest that the poor reputation of human olfaction may reflect, in part, behavioral demands rather than ultimate abilities.

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