Connecting scents with memory and the farm
June 9th 2011 00:50
As the founder of Danielle and Company, I am often asked why we like certain scents
This is a heavily debated question in the field of scent research. Are we born with innate smelling capacities that are pre-programmed in our brain that tell us what we should like to smell? Or do we decide if a smell is pleasant to us based on emotional odor-associative learning?
Why do some of us think the smell of roses is romantic and others cringe at the smell because it reminds them of their overly perfumed grandmother?
What I believe — and what has been documented by many research studies — is that we like and dislike scents based on the first exposure we have to it and the experience of that exact moment.
For example, I love the smell of skunks. That’s right … skunks. I always felt quite strange admitting this growing up, I never told a soul. But as I began my scent journey and learned about emotional learning of certain smells, I felt I could finally share my love of the black and white animal from whom most people run. Although I don’t remember my first encounter with that creature and its distinctive odor, it had to have been a pleasant experience. Perhaps it was during a camping trip in New Jersey with my family or traveling to Pennsylvania with my grandparents, but whatever it was, I was having a good time! The smell of skunk lives on in my memory and, to this day, I still breathe deep and smile when I smell it.
So why do I love skunk smell and others hate it? In general, associative learning comes from the world of human cognition and behavior. It explains the process by which one event comes to be linked to another through an experience. So odor-associative learning means that a smell is described as either pleasant or non-pleasant based on the memory connected to that particular scent when we were first experienced it.
When was the last time you said to yourself (or someone else) “This scent reminds me of …”
That is what we call a scent memory: the memory that is evoked when you smell something and it triggers a memory.
These memories frequently have strong emotional qualities and are associated with the good or bad experiences in which they occurred. For example, the smell of honey and oats may evoke a scent memory of your mom baking cookies in the kitchen when you were a child and you got to eat the first one, warm and soft, right out of the oven. The difficult part is that smell memories are created upon first exposure and many times, that was when we were young children.
In this instance, I just say to trust the process. Research shows it is difficult to overrule that connectivity in the brain. So if you are like me and you love the smell of skunk, embrace it. If you hate the smell of roses, embrace that too. We are all unique in our own ways. What we like and dislike makes us who we are.
Written by Danielle K. Fleming, Founder of Danielle and Company, Inc. A local, homegrown family business that manufactures natural and organic products for the bath, body and home in Scranton, PA. www.DanielleandCompany.com
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