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The aim of the present study was to establish the crucial precondition for directional smelling, i.e. the ability of humans to discriminate between odorous stimuli perceived either from the right or from the left side. When the 'pure' odorants hydrogen sulphide or vanillin were used as stimulants localization was random. On the other hand stimulation with carbon dioxide or menthol yielded identification rates of more than 96%. These results established the fact that directional orientation, considering single momentary odorous sensations, can only be assumed, when the olfactory stimulants simultaneously excite the trigeminal somatosensory system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of psychology during the last century should certainly include a statement about the neglect of the crucial topic of human emotion and also ignorance concerning the role of the olfactory sensory system in human behaviour. During my research career, together with my research students, these are topics I addressed. The sense of smell is not a vestigial system but a sensory input of vital importance in human behaviour. Our experiments involved behaviour and psychophysiological and brain activity studies. Some of these studies involved collaboration with members of Quest working in sensory evaluation. Currently it is slowly being recognized that all human sensory input is integrative and each of the sensory systems is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]