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| www.cidpusa.org/smell_taste.htm |
“If the digital age has increased the volume of communication, it may not have improved the quality,” notes CNN:
Reversing that trend is the goal of a new generation of sensory engineers who are going beyond sight and sound to produce devices that use our untapped faculties. Perhaps the most exciting breakthroughs right now are arriving in the form of smell-centered communication.
“Our motto is ‘aroma tells a thousand pictures'”, says Dr. David Edwards, biomedical engineer at Harvard and founder of Le Laboratoire, known for producing radical sensory devices such as calorie-free chocolate spray. Every human has thousands of distinct smell sensors, Edwards explains, a resource he taps with his newest invention the
oPhone.… The oPhone user can mix and match aromas and then send their composition as a message, which will be recreated on a fellow user’s device. Up to 356 combinations will be possible in the first wave, rising to several thousand in the next year, and the dream is an exhaustive base – the ‘universal
chip’.… “The most basic smell still has hundreds of molecules and you need analytical chemistry to see what’s there”, says Dr. Joel Mainland of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. “Perhaps only 5% would have an impact on smell, so it’s difficult to pick them out. It’s more trial and error than quantitative
science.” 1
“Our senses play a vital and complex role in forming our thoughts, impressions and behaviors,” writes the ScentAir.com website. “Sensory branding is based on the idea that humans are most receptive, and most likely to form, retain, revisit and reinterpret memory, when all five senses are engaged. By hitting more than one sense, brands can establish a stronger and longer-lasting emotional connection with
The Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, once included an attraction with warning signs stating that simulated drug odors would be present. The push to include olfactory senses in one’s overall experience has been gaining momentum in everything from new
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| Neuroscience for Everyone! |
“‘Smell is the most underrated sense, but next to vision is the most information-rich one we have,’ says [Professor Bob Stone], speaking to Soldier Magazine,” in Roby Crossley’s article for the develop-online.net website announcing the creation of a ‘smell effect’
Foodfacts.com continues with Melvin Oatis, clinical supervisor of the New York University Child Study Center, saying, “The sense of smell is so primal, it goes into an odor part of the brain before it can all register and it’s an unconscious wonderful thing that happens to
And increasing hunger is not the only effect. “Gamers who received peppermint scent showed significant improvements in their video game play, such as an increase in the number of levels completed for Perfect 10, greater number of hits and stars during Snowball Fight, and the number of levels and distance completed for the Obstacle Course,” notes Dr. Bryan Raudenbush of Wheeling Jesuit University. “They also said that the video games seem less mentally demanding, that they felt they didn
