People struggle to name odors, but this limitation is not universal. Is superior olfactory performance due to subsistence, ecology or language family? Subsistence.

Hunter-Gatherer Olfaction Is Special. Asifa Majid, Nicole Kruspe. Current Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.014 |

Highlights
    •    People struggle to name odors, but this limitation is not universal
    •    Is superior olfactory performance due to subsistence, ecology or language family?
    •    Hunter-gatherers and non-hunter-gatherers from the same environment were compared
    •    Only hunter-gatherers were proficient odor namers, showing subsistence is crucial

Summary: People struggle to name odors [1, 2, 3, 4]. This has been attributed to a diminution of olfaction in trade-off to vision [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. This presumption has been challenged recently by data from the hunter-gatherer Jahai who, unlike English speakers, find odors as easy to name as colors [4]. Is the superior olfactory performance among the Jahai because of their ecology (tropical rainforest), their language family (Aslian), or because of their subsistence (they are hunter-gatherers)? We provide novel evidence from the hunter-gatherer Semaq Beri and the non-hunter-gatherer (swidden-horticulturalist) Semelai that subsistence is the critical factor. Semaq Beri and Semelai speakers—who speak closely related languages and live in the tropical rainforest of the Malay Peninsula—took part in a controlled odor- and color-naming experiment. The swidden-horticulturalist Semelai found odors much more difficult to name than colors, replicating the typical Western finding. But for the hunter-gatherer Semaq Beri odor naming was as easy as color naming, suggesting that hunter-gatherer olfactory cognition is special.