Post 2- Sense of Smell, Memory, and Emotions

One of the concepts that I found most interesting from our book is the impact of our sense of smell on our lives in general. I could not believe that smell is responsible for about 80% of what we taste, and I never realized how important it is in our everyday lives. Upon further research of this sense, I found that our sense of smell is also the most prominent sense in relation to memories and our emotions.

The sense of smell is more closely linked to our memories than any of our other senses. People with full olfactory function can think of full memories just by detecting a specific smell either intentionally or spontaneously upon coming across a scent by chance.

The strong link between our sense of smell and memories is similar to the link between smell and emotions. An article from Fifthsense.org explains that even the perfume industry is aware of this fact and creates scents in order to convey specific feelings and emotions in order to increase business. The sense of smell is so emotive that it is said to be a contributing factor in romantic relationships between two people. The article states that the act of kissing evolved from the original act of sniffing a partner to decide if they are a match. The power of smell is correlated to association and our body's natural inclination to link specific smells with our feelings, thoughts, and emotions at that specific time. This leads our brains to believe that a smell can cause us to feel a specific way, when in reality it is just an association to other factors.

It is interesting to think about the enormous impact that our sense of smell has on every aspect of our lives from physical to cognitive to even emotional. For more information visit the following link: http://www.fifthsense.org.uk/what_is_smell/psychology/

References

Fifth Sense. "Psychology and Smell - Fifth Sense." Fifth Sense. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June 2015.