Turning off the radio to park or putting on glasses to talk on the phone are some of the daily actions we perform. we mix feelings Without our knowledge. Perhaps turning off the radio to park may be justified by a greater need for concentration. But there is neither the concentration that explains the problem with glasses, nor many other similar situations. People with synesthesia take this connection of senses to extremes, being able to make sounds or see poetry in numbers. But the rest of us mortals make little associations too unconscious path. For example, smells affect our lives. color perception.
This is something very subtle that we are not aware of. However, according to a study just published in Frontiers in Psychology, this is a fairly common occurrence. This study complements previous ones, such as one that demonstrated that Colors affect taste perceptionor that smells are related to our perception of movement.
It is important to recognize that the study was conducted with few participants. However, the results are significant enough to be taken into account. But what exactly did they see?
Color of smells
They took part in this study 24 adultswho was sitting in a dark room in front of a computer. For the first four minutes they sat, a purifier was used to clear the air. After that, the smell spread in the room for 5 minutes. They were not told when the smell appeared or what it would be like. In fact, this one was chosen at random from a list that included caramel, coffee, mint, lemon and cherry. In addition, in some cases it was used pure water instead of aroma.
While the process of air purification and aromatization was taking place, participants saw on the computer screen sliding patch which can be of two types. In one case it changed from yellow to blue, and in the other from green to red, until in both cases it reached a neutral gray.
The goal was to test whether the aroma they smelled at each moment influenced the perception of color evolution. So it was. When the water was simply released, the colors were perceived exactly as they appeared on the screen. but when certain spirits appeared, everything changed. I see especially in gray.
For example, regarding the aroma of coffee, participants generally described the color gray as more reddish brown than neutral. On the other hand, the smell of candy turned him yellowish-gray. In general, changes occurred with all flavors except mint.
What is all this for?
Our brain constantly receives information based on all feelings, which needs to be integrated for more efficient functioning. This is evident from a recent study that accurately demonstrated that soccer goalkeepers have a greater ability to quickly integrate this information and that this helps them quickly make decisions about what it takes for a recently kicked ball to reach the goal.
Therefore, it is important to be aware of how the senses interact with each other. The issue of taste and color has been studied quite well. In fact, a study was published in 1980 showing that the color of a drink can influence perceived taste. For example, if a person drank a cherry soda but it was orange in color, he would believe that it was actually an orange drink.
It helps food and drink manufacturers improve the taste they are looking for with something simple: adding dye.
Previous studies have also been conducted on smell and vision. In 2021, it was observed that when a group of participants were given a series of moving dots across a computer screen, the background odor affected the speed of movement. WITH lemon He seemed to move faster and with vanilla Slow down. Similar findings are used in marketing. In fact, this is the reason why casinos often smell like lemon. Because this feeling of speed encourages you to make risky decisions without thinking about them. It would be strange to find a playroom that smelled like vanilla.
Now, thanks to this new research, we know that there are smells that affect our color perception. Or at least it seems so. The study would have to be repeated with a larger number of participants and look for reasons, although perhaps it is due to associations with everyday life, for example, with the color and taste of orange. On the other hand, these scientists want to test whether the same thing happens with an odor that is perceived for the first time. Given all these achievements, there is no doubt that experts in the field marketing They see how to take advantage of this new knowledge about flowers.
Source: Hiper Textual
