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Experience with odors matters for mental simulation of odor and taste: comparing acquired and congenital anosmia

Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Reading a description of a simmering curry can conjure the mental representation of the smell of toasted spices, but this might be difficult for someone who has never smelled it before. Grounded theories of language posit that experiential history correlates with the ability to mentally simulate sensations. However, how sensory history affects this process in individuals with olfactory deficits remains unclear. This study investigated whether losing the sense of smell reshapes the simulation of food, and whether the timing of that loss matters. People with congenital anosmia (no smell across the lifespan), acquired anosmia (smell lost later in life), and a normal sense of smell rated the extent to which they could imagine the odor, taste/flavor, and texture evoked by neutral and sensory-rich food descriptions, then reported how much they desired each food. Odor simulation was most impaired in congenital anosmia and intermediate in acquired anosmia, a gradient showing that experience supports imagined smell. Taste/flavor simulation further dissociated the two groups: acquired anosmics simulated taste less than normosmics, whereas congenital anosmics did not differ, plausibly because they never formed flavor as a fusion of taste and smell in the first place. Texture simulation was preserved across all groups. Critically, following the onset of smell loss, acquired anosmics increasingly simulated the remaining modalities of taste and texture, and this heightened simulation predicted greater desire for the food. Together these findings ground food simulation in sensory history and show that, when one sense is lost, simulation reorganizes around the modalities that remain.
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.7070487
Subfield: Sensory Systems
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7167685132
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