A University of Iowa study finds the smell of vanilla or a freshly baked cake isn’t quite as pleasurable for people who suffer from schizophrenia. The study found people with the disorder use different parts of their brain to process smells. U-of-I research scientist Daniel O’Leary says it explains many of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. He says there’s a tender for patients to isolate themselves socially.O’Leary says there’s a close connection between the sense of smell and the part of the brain that mediates emotion.O’Leary and the other researchers are now analyzing the next part of their experiment which tested visual responses.O’Leary says they may also test depressed patients to see if their findings are the same among that group.
