Researchers at Rice University have found that women who were exposed to the scent of fear-induced sweat performed better on cognitive tasks:

"It is well-documented in the research literature that animals experiencing stress and fear produce chemical warning signals that can lead to behavioral, endocrinological and immunological changes in their fellow animals of the same species, but we wanted to see if this applies to humans as well," said principal investigator Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice.

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Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley have conducted an experiment that explains how we are able to keep from being overwhelmed by constant sensory input from odors. The researchers used MRI technology to monitor the brain activity of two groups of volunteers, only one of which was told that the experiment was about odor. When both groups were exposed to odors, the group that did NOT know the experiment was about odor showed less activity in the areas of the brain that process odor…

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