The meaning and power of smell

Cambridge 8 | Test 2 | Passage 3 The meaning and power of smell Odors are essential cues in social bonding. One respondent to a survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, infants recognize the odors of their mothers soon after birth and adults can often identify their children and spouses by scent. In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people. Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odor as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealed, even when not consciously considered, smells register.   bonding (noun) [uncountable] /ˈbɑːn.dɪŋ/ the process by which a close emotional relationship is developed   odor (noun) [countable, uncountable] /ˈoʊdər/ a smell, especially one that is unpleasant   scent (noun) [uncountable, countable] /sent/ the pleasant smell that something has