The sense of smell can bypass the thalamus, it is only secondarily sent through it when you are analyzing or comparing it to other smells.
Its smell Information goes to olfactory cortex of the frontal lobe without going through the thalamus. Its the only major sense that does not go through the thalamus
The sense of smell can bypass the thalamus, it is only secondarily sent through it when you are analyzing or comparing it to other smells.
The sense of smell is directed through the limbic system without passing through the thalamus first.
smell
The sense of Olfaction or smell. Unlike the rest of the senses which are routed through the thalamus, olfaction goes through the olfactory cortex in the temporal lobe and to the limbic system which is associated with memory. That is the reason smell is strongly associated with emotion is due to it's ties to the limbic system. Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfaction
A person's sense of smell does not first need to be processed by the Thalamus before entering the Cortex. This is often times why a smell can cause a memory recall faster than other kinds of sensory input.
Thalamus
Smell
Visual information first passes through the thalamus in the brain before traveling to the visual cortex. The thalamus acts as a relay station that helps to route sensory information to the appropriate areas in the cortex for further processing.
Most nerve impulses from our senses are routed through the thalamus before being relayed to the appropriate regions in the brain for processing. The thalamus acts as a relay station for sensory information, helping to regulate which signals are sent to the cortex for further analysis.
The thalamus serves as the relay station for receiving sensory information from the sense organs and then transmitting it to the cerebral cortex for further processing. It plays a crucial role in regulating consciousness, sleep, and alertness.
Every part of the brain that communicates with the cerebral cortex must relay its signals through a nucleus of the thalamus.