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Human Body

Nerves and Senses

Which two special senses are closely related?

The special senses of smell and taste are very closely related, both structurally and functionally. Experimental evidence shows that taste is partially dependent on the sense of smell. Most subjects are unable to distinguish between an onion and an apple on a blind taste test when their sense of smell is blocked. This also explains why food is “tasteless” when you have a cold because the olfactory receptor cells are covered with a thick mucus blocking the sense of smell.



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