OUR SENSE OF SMELL AND HOW SCENTS AFFECT
US
Many in the
scientific world are beginning to believe that smell could be our most
suggestive sense. Studies are indicating that smells can indeed affect many
things such as our emotions, mood and perceptions. It is known that scent
preferences can be highly subjective and personal relating to our memories and
associations. For instance, to some the smell of certain flowers may evoke
negative feelings. To me the smell of gasoline is as good as it gets since it
brings back pleasant memories of Sunday afternoons when my father took me and my
siblings to the refinery where he worked & filled our car up from the gas
pump for employee use. We enjoyed this time together, thus I've always
associated the smell of gasoline with happiness. Who would know? We can then
imagine and surmise that those who dislike certain flowery scents may have
experienced a negative trigger around that smell at a previous point in
time.
Did you know that
some people can smell certain aromas where others can't? Genetics, or to a
smaller degree, small physiological changes and factors like mood and
medications can affect our sense of smell. It's thought that we never experience
a smell the same way twice. The sensitivity of our nose changes from hour to
hour and our sense of smell is the weakest in the morning and gets stronger as
the day goes on. We've all noticed that we can't smell as well when are noses
are stuffed up and may also have been aware that when we are hungry, our sense
of smell seems to get keener.
To me, the most
exciting thing about our sense of smell is that it seems to be able to tune into
fragrances that affect our behavior and mood. There are logical reasons for this
phenomena. The association of fragrance and emotion is all because of our
olfactory system. Our olfactory receptors are connected to the limbic system,
which is thought to be the seat of emotion. Smell sensations are relayed to the
cortex, where 'cognitive' recognition occurs.
There is evidence
that pleasant fragrances can improve our mood and sense of well-being. Even the
thought of pleasant fragrances have been found to make us a bit more cheerful.
Experiments have shown that actually smelling the scent can dramatically improve
mood and sense of well-being.
Interestingly, the
positive emotional effects of pleasant fragrances also affect our perceptions of
other people and things. Results from experiments where subjects were exposed to
pleasant fragrances tended to give higher 'attractiveness ratings' to people in
photographs. In one study, the presence of an unpleasant odor led subjects to
give lower ratings to photographed individuals and to judge paintings less
professional. Other tests conducted with shampoos resulted in participants
touting many irrelevant positive qualities about the shampoo, when only the
fragrance had been changed.
A lot of research
is being done on how our environment affects our well-being and scents are up
there in the list of physical cues that influence our perceptions. Can a floral smell be a mood stimulator and encourage social interaction? There is a wealth
of information out there that says yes. Scientists are revealing that
recollections tied to smell can be stronger than memory of other
types.
Olfaction can
transport our thoughts back to some of our earliest experiences and the outcome
can be a feeling. Scientists are also suggesting that the lack of or absence
of these feelings could be a sign of cognitive decline. Early stages of
developing therapies to train people to smell better are thought to perhaps one
day lessen the deterioration of mental faculties. Without delving too deeply
into this phenomena, suffice to say, stimulating our sense of smell with
fragrances can light up our lives with both old and new positive
memories.
Since odors are
ofen tied to a unique experience that has given us a strong and stable
connection, it seems to me that we might want to surround ourselves with the
fragrances we love that have for so long made us feel so good!
Janis
Lyn
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