Impaired smell.

I wonder if they add this to psychopathy checklist if it were to be confirmed and not some work of arbitrary research, which is far too common.

"Okay sir, you've scored 33 on the checklist now I need you too take a whiff of these two cards which both have distinguishable scents, now close your eyes and take a giant whiff!"

And there you have it, a psychopath who can't sniff like a normal folk...


Warr'ts dat? I smell chicken!
Me no psychopath, I smell all.
Farts smell bad in showers..

The study below:

http://www.springer.com/about+spring...01-6-1390146-0

This may apply to some, but definitely not all. My sense of smell is incredibly acute. I'm not sure if I'm a psychopath or just antisocial. But either way, the research is interesting... My bf has a horrible sense of smell but can often be as impulsive as I am. So there might be a degree of truth to this.

I have yet to read the full article, however, from the summary, the authors seemed to have accounted for some possible reasons as to why odor recognition was impaired. Since they can detect different odors, they should be able to taste and it would be interesting to see whether they score higher on taste recognition. Unfortunately, one concern I have is that the amygdala (an area responsible for emotion and fear-conditioning) connects to the olfactory bulb. Since it has stunted function, there is certainly a possibility that the lack of emotional recognition of smells affects their recognition. This process of emotional regulation, proper identification, integration with planning, etc... certainly involves the frontal brain areas, however, other areas, such as the insula, insular cortex and amydala are not in the front, so I'm interested to see how they arrived at that specific conclusion.

My sense of smell isn't that well at all, and most of the time I only breathe through one nostril. As far as I know I'm just ASPD and unsure of being a psychopath so it could just be problems with my body physiologically that cause impaired smell.. what really helped my allergies and previous years of sinus was a few teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar to a cup of 500-600ml.. great *****.. haven't been sneezing as much, no more running nose and no more blocked nose! Though, I still breathe through my mouth when sleeping and wake up with an exasperated dry mouth.. but it all alleviates!

The postulation of psychopaths being linked to impaired smell seems to me of anything; including what Oxi mentioned and other neuroanatomical components like the thalamus probably both have cognitive and emotive responses that are correlated with empathy and emotional functions.. though the ambiguity of this study leaves me on the sideline.