Question

Why does smell not go through the thalamus?

Answer 1

Thalamus

1. The thalamus is an egg-shaped structure located in the brain.
2. It's known as a transfer station of all approaching motor, tactile and sensory information — hearing, taste, sight, and contact (yet not smell) — from our body to our cerebrum.
3. Like a transfer or train station, all data should initially go through our thalamus before being steered or coordinated to its objective in the brain's cerebral cortex (the peripheral layer of our cerebrum) for additional handling.
4. The "central hub" of the brain, the thalamus, gets data from all senses except smell.
5. The olfactory sensory neurons do not directly communicate with the thalamus.
6. The nasal epithelium contains olfactory sensory neurons, which are responsible for detecting and sending information about smells to the brain.