@article {315813,
	title = {Hunter-Gatherer Olfaction Is Special},
	journal = {Current BiologyCurrent Biology},
	volume = {28},
	year = {2018},
	note = {<p>doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.014</p>
},
	pages = {409 - 413.e2},
	abstract = {<p>People struggle to name odors [1?4]. This has been attributed to a diminution of olfaction in trade-off to vision [5?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.People struggle to name odors [1?4]. This has been attributed to a diminution of olfaction in trade-off to vision [5?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.</p>
},
	isbn = {0960-9822},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.014},
	author = {Majid, Asifa and Kruspe, Nicole}
}
