Similar scents also have similar molecular structures and seeing the molecular structures of scents can determine whether the scents smell similar. During this lab, we smelled many different scents, but these scents also corresponded with other scents. We were given a packet with the molecular structure of each scent and I noticed that when two scents smelled similar to each other, they also had similar structures on a molecular level.
For example, we smelled peppermint and spearmint. These two scents are very similar and are both a member of the Ketones family. Although they did have a distinct smell on their own, they also shared a minty scent. At first, it was difficult to distinguish them. By looking at the molecular structure, it's also noticeable that they share a similar molecular structure. The molecular structure is the reason why my brain determines these two scents have a similar scent. But the structure is different enough that they register as two different scents to my brain.