Source Texts
Text
Neuroscientist Artin Arshamian and his team sought to determine what affects a person's perception of an odor as pleasant: is it culture, personal taste, or aspects of human anatomy? The team assessed odor preferences in ten groups of people with different modes of living (urban, agricultural, and hunter-gatherer) including the Maniq people from a small community in Thailand and the Seri people from a small community in Mexico. The team observed that across cultures, people generally rated odors about the same: ethyl butyrate, which smells like peaches, was typically rated more pleasant than diethyl disulfide, which smells like garlic. The team's study thus undermined the idea that ______