I asked my boyfriend last night one of the most difficult questions I've ever randomly come up with in my life.
You know how some things startle us so much that our body suddenly jerks, like some self-preserving reflex action? Like when we hear a gunshot sound, taste something rotten in our mouth, get splattered on with boiling oil while frying, or even when we suddenly see a ghost in a horror movie? It all seems to have something to do with sudden stimuli that come upon us without warning.
Why does that work only for sense of sight, touch, hearing, and though very rarely, taste? Why does it NOT work for sense of smell? Have you ever been startled by the worst stench of garbage? Or even a rotting body (which I never had the chance of smelling before, most fortunately)? To the point that your entire body jerked? Hindi ba OA ang dating nun?
I will give a prize to anyone who can give me an understandable answer to this question!
6 comments:
I study in Mendiola, and near an area where there's a humongous heap of garbage, enough to make you feel immune to the smell. However, last night, there was this smell that actually hit my senses, as if a brick has been thrown at my head! Grabe yun amoy talaga! I don't know how to describe the smell--but it's enough for one to retch and have his hairs stand on end. I don't know how to explain such...er...sensation. Maybe because we're not used to smelling/seeing/hearing things like that. Simple (yet vague explanation, sorry!). :)
Really? wow! But did it make your body jerk? Hindi pa rin dba? That is my point! :P
actually, that was the odd part. IT DID. akala ko nga,immune na ako. It was just awful. It smelled like a combination of (animal) fecal matter+dried blood+really old garbage+old urine+decomposing corpse.
My first lead for the research: Our hypothalamus. Does it make sense?
I see your point in that experience Layla, you might be telling me that your body has jerked to an unexpected aroma, but I do believe that I still present a real problem.
For instance, if a person is placed in a controlled room and is informed that he is about to hear a sound of a gunshot. Then BANG! Normally his body jerks right? And then he is informed that he will be confronted with the smell of a dead corpse. Surely he will writhe and squirm at this, but do his bodily moevements match those that were manifested in the previous sound? Dba hindi? That is the point of my question. :)
ah, okay! :) got it. :)
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