Delicious smells not only make your mouth water but also activate neurons that control hand movement, Italian researchers have found.
''The mere smell of food is able to activate, in particular conditions, fully fledged strategies of movement aimed at grasping the smelt object,'' research leader Simone Rossi said.
The nose does not come into the equation in the same way for non-edible items like soap, said Rossi, who led a team from the universities of Siena, Rome and Ferrara.
''On the contrary, if the smell contains irritants like deodorants, which are associated with the perception of pain, the motor system is actually inhibited,'' Rossi told the Public Library of Science journal PlOS One.
Rossi and his team believe their discovery can help patients whose sense of smell has been lost or distorted, such as sufferers from Parkinson's Disease.
It could also help fight eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, they say.
People suffering from partial paralysis of the fingers, on the other hand, could benefit from ''olfactory reinforcement'' as they try to pick up food.
