You can recognize a criminal by his smell, or the great possibilities of smell

Scientists have once again proven that olfactory memory is closely linked to emotions. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden documented in their experiment that witnesses to crimes can identify perpetrators by their scent. A criminal's scent has been used as evidence in court in numerous cases. However, such identification has until now been the domain of dogs. In reality, humans can distinguish another person 's body odor from their own, and can even identify their own relatives or friends by their scent. Can a criminal be recognized by his smell? A recent study, presented in Frontiers in Psychology , confirms that, as a result of strong emotions (stress, fear), people can remember the scent of the perpetrator and identify them. This may be particularly important in cases of sexual assault, where the victim is close to the perpetrator and unable to make eye contact (they cannot recognize him by appearance). What was the experiment about? Swedish researchers showed a group of volunteers films that were neutral or depicted a crime. At the same time, they sprayed the air with a scent belonging to the alleged criminal. The volunteers were asked to choose from five scents the one that best characterized the perpetrator. 70% of the participants correctly identified the correct scent.