{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.sense-of-smell","code":"thing-q1541064","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q1541064/","name":"sense of smell","alternateNames":["scent","Retronasal smell","Insect olfaction"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.1.0-research.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"thing","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.ACT"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the sensory capacity to detect and discriminate chemical stimuli through olfactory receptors and neural processing, supporting odour perception and behaviour.","purpose":"Enable an agent to recognise olfactory capacity and experience, assess what observations support about their state, and choose appropriate further observation or support.","scope":{"in":["Olfactory capacity attributed to an identified organism and assessed under specified conditions","Episodes of odour detection, discrimination, identification and perceived intensity","Orthonasal and retronasal routes and their contributions to reported experience","Changes in olfactory performance or experience over time","Evidence linking odour perception to context, learning and practical decisions"],"out":["Chemical composition and emission behaviour of odorant substances","Detailed anatomy and molecular mechanisms of olfactory organs and pathways","Taste and the complete multisensory experience of flavour","Trigeminal sensations such as nasal irritation, cooling or burning considered independently","Diagnosis and treatment of diseases associated with altered smell","Electronic noses and chemical sensors that do not constitute organismal perception"],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Establish whether the record concerns an organism's sensory capacity or experience, rather than merely an airborne chemical concentration.","Separate odour detection from naming: detecting that samples differ can support olfactory performance even when the organism cannot provide an odour label.","For food-related reports, distinguish olfactory evidence associated with the retronasal route from taste and other contributors to flavour.","Determine whether an apparent smell response could instead reflect irritation, cooling, visual cues or learned task cues.","Distinguish capacity across repeated observations from the intensity or character of one reported smell episode."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"olfactory-identity","name":"Olfactory identity","description":"Defines the sensory capacity or episode being represented and its boundaries.","layers":[{"id":"capacity-and-episode","name":"Capacity and episode","description":"Separates a bearer's capacity from an occurrence of smelling.","findings":[{"id":"bearer-and-target","name":"Bearer and assessment target","description":"Record whose smell is represented and whether the evidence concerns an episode, a capacity or a change.","questions":[{"text":"Does this record concern an olfactory capacity, one smell experience or a change relative to an earlier state?","id":"bearer-and-target-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Whose observation or behavioural record supports attributing this capacity or episode to the organism?","id":"bearer-and-target-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"sensory-boundaries","name":"Sensory boundaries","description":"Distinguishes olfaction from neighbouring sensory contributions.","findings":[{"id":"olfaction-versus-associated-cues","name":"Olfaction versus associated cues","description":"Keep smell evidence separate from taste, irritation and contextual cues while allowing linked multisensory experiences.","questions":[{"text":"What supports interpreting the response as olfactory rather than a response to taste, irritation or a visible cue?","id":"olfaction-versus-associated-cues-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"If the report concerns flavour, which part is attributed to smell and which parts remain assigned to neighbouring senses?","id":"olfaction-versus-associated-cues-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"odorant-access-and-exposure","name":"Odorant access and exposure","description":"Captures how and under what conditions a candidate odour reaches the organism.","layers":[{"id":"delivery-route","name":"Delivery route","description":"Records the route and presentation conditions of the stimulus.","findings":[{"id":"route-and-sampling","name":"Route and sampling","description":"Represent orthonasal or retronasal access together with relevant sampling conditions.","questions":[{"text":"Was the candidate odour encountered through orthonasal smelling, retronasal access during eating or an unresolved combination?","id":"route-and-sampling-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Were presentation duration, delivery method and any nostril-specific conditions recorded?","id":"route-and-sampling-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"exposure-history","name":"Exposure history","description":"Records stimulus background and recent exposure relevant to interpretation.","findings":[{"id":"background-and-repetition","name":"Background and repetition","description":"Track background odours, repeated presentations and intervals without assuming why perception changed.","questions":[{"text":"What background odours and preceding presentations could affect the current observation?","id":"background-and-repetition-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What comparison would help distinguish an exposure-related change from a persistent change in capacity?","id":"background-and-repetition-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"olfactory-performance","name":"Olfactory performance","description":"Separates the tasks through which olfactory capacity is operationalised.","layers":[{"id":"detection-and-discrimination","name":"Detection and discrimination","description":"Represents noticing an odour and distinguishing odours without requiring names.","findings":[{"id":"task-specific-sensitivity","name":"Task-specific sensitivity","description":"Retain task design, stimulus levels and uncertainty alongside observed performance.","questions":[{"text":"Was the organism asked to detect an odour against a blank or distinguish between odorant samples?","id":"task-specific-sensitivity-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"What stimulus levels, trial counts, response criterion and chance performance define the result?","id":"task-specific-sensitivity-q02","kind":"measurement"}]}]},{"id":"identification-and-comparability","name":"Identification and comparability","description":"Captures recognition and naming while preserving their interpretive limits.","findings":[{"id":"identification-task-demands","name":"Identification task demands","description":"Record familiarity, language and response format before interpreting identification performance as evidence about sensory capacity.","questions":[{"text":"Did the task require free naming, choosing a label or matching an odour to a familiar source?","id":"identification-task-demands-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Are the language, odour familiarity, protocol and reference population compatible with the proposed comparison?","id":"identification-task-demands-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"olfactory-experience-and-meaning","name":"Olfactory experience and meaning","description":"Represents what smelling is like and how the bearer interprets it.","layers":[{"id":"perceptual-description","name":"Perceptual description","description":"Records subjective intensity and quality without treating descriptors as chemical identification.","findings":[{"id":"quality-intensity-and-valence","name":"Quality, intensity and valence","description":"Preserve the bearer's descriptions and scales separately from observer interpretations.","questions":[{"text":"How did the bearer describe the odour's quality, intensity and pleasantness, and using which scales or vocabulary?","id":"quality-intensity-and-valence-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Which statements are direct reports, and which are an observer's interpretations of behaviour?","id":"quality-intensity-and-valence-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"recognition-and-association","name":"Recognition and association","description":"Distinguishes source attribution and learned associations from the sensory report.","findings":[{"id":"perceived-source-and-learned-meaning","name":"Perceived source and learned meaning","description":"Represent familiarity, memories and attributed sources without treating association as source verification.","questions":[{"text":"What source, memory or significance does the bearer associate with the odour?","id":"perceived-source-and-learned-meaning-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"What evidence independently supports the attributed source beyond resemblance or familiarity?","id":"perceived-source-and-learned-meaning-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"change-and-practical-response","name":"Change and practical response","description":"Tracks altered smell and the decisions that depend on interpreting it.","layers":[{"id":"olfactory-change","name":"Olfactory change","description":"Represents the pattern, timing and evidential status of a change.","findings":[{"id":"change-from-baseline","name":"Change from baseline","description":"Distinguish reduced detection, changed odour quality and experiences without an identified stimulus; retain reports and measured results separately.","questions":[{"text":"Relative to which baseline is smell reported or measured as reduced, absent, heightened or distorted?","id":"change-from-baseline-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What is known about onset, persistence, recurrence and the presence of an external stimulus?","id":"change-from-baseline-q02","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which causal explanations remain unresolved and belong to a linked assessment rather than this sensory-state record?","id":"change-from-baseline-q03","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"smell-dependent-decisions","name":"Smell-dependent decisions","description":"Connects olfactory evidence to affected activities and proportionate follow-up.","findings":[{"id":"functional-reliance-and-next-observation","name":"Functional reliance and next observation","description":"Record which decisions depend on smell, what corroboration they require and whether further observation or human review is appropriate.","questions":[{"text":"Which activities, such as enjoying food, recognising environmental odours or performing an occupational task, are affected?","id":"functional-reliance-and-next-observation-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What additional observation, alternative cue or qualified human review is needed before acting on this smell report?","id":"functional-reliance-and-next-observation-q02","kind":"action"},{"text":"Does the proposed decision exceed what detecting or failing to detect this odour can establish?","id":"functional-reliance-and-next-observation-q03","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence-and-external-alignment","name":"Evidence and external alignment","description":"What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.","layers":[{"id":"reported-evidence","name":"Reported evidence","description":"Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-confidence-notes","name":"Check these first","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these check these first hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-confidence-notes-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-kinds","name":"Kinds and varieties","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-kinds-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-identifiers","name":"Identifiers and schemes","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-identifiers-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-real-world-use","name":"Real-world use","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-real-world-use-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-measurements","name":"Typical measurements","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-measurements-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards","name":"Failure modes and hazards","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-regional-variation","name":"Regional variation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-regional-variation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-neighbours","name":"Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of sense of smell this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-neighbours-q01","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Explain how the sense of smell works, citing scientific sources.","Advise people with a sudden loss of smell to see a clinician."],"mustNot":["Diagnose the cause of a specific person's loss of smell.","Advise someone without a sense of smell to rely on it to detect gas leaks, smoke or spoiled food.","Use scents to manipulate people in ways they have not been told about.","Mock people for their body odour or for smell disorders."],"requiresHuman":["Any treatment decision for a persistent smell disorder."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["People who lose their sense of smell face safety risks and lower quality of life that are often overlooked.","Smell is tied to food, memory and social life, so its loss can affect mental health."],"affectedParties":["People with smell disorders","Older adults","Households relying on smell to detect hazards"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody: a human sense; each person answers for their own health.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q160402","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.sense-of-smell","Wikidata: Q1541064 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1541064)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["Sensory bearer: Identified organism; species; relevant reporting or behavioural capabilities","Assessment target: Capacity; individual perceptual episode; change in capacity; change in experience","Odorant access route: Orthonasal; retronasal; mixed; unspecified","Detection threshold: Protocol-specific concentration or dilution step, with odorant, delivery conditions and detection criterion","Odour discrimination performance: Correct responses per trials or protocol score, with task alternatives and chance level","Odour identification performance: Correct responses per trials or protocol score, with language, familiarity and response format","Perceived intensity and quality: Intensity on a named scale plus participant-provided or controlled-vocabulary quality descriptors","Reported olfactory state: Usual for bearer; reduced; absent; heightened; distorted with stimulus; reported without identified stimulus; uncertain","Temporal and exposure context: Onset, duration, recurrence, recent exposures, recovery intervals and comparison baseline"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["Separate detection, discrimination, identification and subjective experience within an assessment record.","Compare repeated observations when stimulus delivery, task and context are sufficiently compatible.","Identify missing controls or contextual information before interpreting an apparent olfactory change.","Represent smell contributions to food experience while linking taste and flavour to neighbouring models.","Record uncertainty and route consequential interpretations to appropriate human review.","Identify activities that rely on smell and document alternative cues when olfactory evidence is insufficient."]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Loss of smell can leave people unaware of smoke, gas leaks or spoiled food.","Smell loss can be an early sign of illness that goes unnoticed."]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["ISO 5492, issued by the International Organization for Standardization, provides sensory analysis vocabulary relevant to olfaction and odor assessment."]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["The sense of smell supports everyday recognition of food, environmental odors and changes in familiar surroundings.","It is assessed in sensory research and clinical settings when investigating changes in odor detection or discrimination."]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q1541064: sense of smell","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1541064","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Sense of smell","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_of_smell","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Which existing Vercy perception or olfaction model, if any, already owns this concept and should be linked instead of duplicated?","Which reference definitions best reconcile smell as sensory capacity, perceptual process and conscious experience, particularly across species?","Which assessment protocols and reference populations support defensible comparisons across age, language, culture and species?","What evidence and observation intervals are sufficient to distinguish temporary exposure effects from persistent olfactory change?","How should conflicting subjective reports, behavioural results and stimulus measurements be represented without assigning unsupported diagnostic or causal labels?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q1541064/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q1541064/spec.json"],"providers":["Codex"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-07T14:13:13Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"not-applicable","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T10:10:26+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.","interaction.recognition":"Olfactory capacity is not directly visible and must be assessed through reported experience or sensory testing."},"score":1.0}}