Update: My best current theory [ hasn’t changed in a few months but I figured it might be worth posting ] is that composite smell data [i.e. the better part of smell processing] is passed directly from the olfactory bulb to somewhere in the entorhinal-amygdalar-temporal area, while there are a few scents that function as pheromones in the sense that we have innate responses to the scents as opposed to their associated experiences [ so, skunk and feces as well as the scent of eligible mates ] and data about these scents is relayed by thin, almost invisible projections to the hypothalamus or other nuclei in the “emotional motor system” so the behavioral responses can bootstrap.
Thank you! Someone else noticed! For my part, I’ll update this if I find anything.
Update: My best current theory [ hasn’t changed in a few months but I figured it might be worth posting ] is that composite smell data [i.e. the better part of smell processing] is passed directly from the olfactory bulb to somewhere in the entorhinal-amygdalar-temporal area, while there are a few scents that function as pheromones in the sense that we have innate responses to the scents as opposed to their associated experiences [ so, skunk and feces as well as the scent of eligible mates ] and data about these scents is relayed by thin, almost invisible projections to the hypothalamus or other nuclei in the “emotional motor system” so the behavioral responses can bootstrap.