In your dreams, you may clearly see something or hear someone talking. But what about smells? Can you ever remember smells from your dreams?
A study published in 1896 looked at different sensory (感官的) experiences in dreams. It found visual (视觉的) experience 1 controls one's dreams. It takes up about 85%, while auditory (听觉的) makes up 69%, and smell only 7%.
But why? Now scientists have possible reasons based on what is known about the brain.
In our brain, there is a special part called the cerebral cortex (大脑皮层). It is linked to our feelings. As much as two-thirds of the cerebral cortex works in vision (视力). So vision
2 often in dreams. Auditory is closely tied to language, and language is processed entirely in the cerebral cortex. Smell, 3, has little to do with the cerebral cortex. It connects directly into the memory and emotional systems. That's why a smell can bring back a memory.
Another 4 is that perhaps smell is not easily affected (影响) by our imagination. For example, close your eyes and imagine your favorite dish. What do you get? It is easy to think about what it looks like. But it is not as easy to imagine its smell.
Vision and auditory is a complex (复杂的) process inside the brain. But smell is a direct measurement (衡量) of the chemicals in the air. There is 5 imagination involved in smell. Therefore, smell might not be much affected by the brain activity during dreaming.
It is 6 to taste and touch. That is why you don't often have the experience of taste and touch in your dreams.
