WEBVTT - The Future of Smells 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.080 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:14.560 Forward Thinking and Welcome to Forward Thinking, a podcast that 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:16.480 looks at the future. It says, can you smell what 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.239 the rock is cooking? Nine? Jonathan Strickland. I can't believed that. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:26.239 M How are you all doing today? Tod? How about you? Joe? 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.600 I'm a little nauseated sitting in a room with the 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.400 three of you, Jonathan, Lauren and Null, because at least 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.040 one of you smells bad, at least one. I just 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.600 I just showered this morning, like right before I came 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.920 into the office, I doused myself an ax body spring 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.640 that explains it clean. And yet, what are we even 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:53.000 talking about? Smell? Joe? Well, I was just kidding. You're 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.640 as spragrant as ever. Jonathan, I am no. I was 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:01.720 wondering about smells. Yeh. Is there a future for smells? 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:06.720 Because frankly, to me, smell is, you know, all all 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.119 of our senses are important, but it's sort of the 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:13.000 most superfluous one. It's not like I'm a dog and 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.840 I use smell to really navigate the world and find 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.240 the things that interest me, like piles of garbage and 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.360 something under a bunch of dead leaves. I don't know, 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.640 it's it's down there somewhere. No. I I don't really 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.800 use my sense of smell for all anything all that important. 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.520 So does it really matter in our lives? And I 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.280 don't know does it really have that much influence on 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.000 the way we see the world? Yes? All right, So 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.360 if you guys have any suggestions for future episodes of 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:47.240 forward Thinking, uh no, the short answer is is it absolutely? 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.160 And of course sorry, the follow up question is what's 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:55.040 the futurist smell? Well? Also, we wanted to mention that 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.520 we're going to be covering how smell can affect us 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.760 and to what extent that that we know of it 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.040 can affect us. And this is sort of part of 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.520 a it's a small part of a bigger discussion that 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.639 we're going to continue in a future episode about the 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:14.920 things that can influence our decision making processes and whether 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:19.200 the future is going to involve us uh consciously employing 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:25.120 those things to perhaps guide us to a brighter, happier future. 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.639 That's not at all orwellian um, Hey, those serious concerns 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:31.480 are for another day to you. We're going to talk 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.800 about stinky stuff and smells in the future of smelling. Yes, 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.600 as we said, the word smell enough. The first thing 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.680 we need to do is actually establish how smell works. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.920 And fortunately, you know, the three of us all work, 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.280 actually the four of us, because Noel's here to all 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.000 work that we're including our editor in our discussion today. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:54.760 Apparently literally is acknowledging his work. Whatever. All four of 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.959 us work for how stuff Works dot com. And one 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.280 of the articles that you can find, one of the 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.760 many amazing articles you can find on there, is how 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:07.400 Smell Works by Sarah Dowdy. And uh, it's really interesting 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:13.800 to see how smell actually works. So we sense smells 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:19.160 using cells called chemo receptors. Yeah, they're in our nasal cavity. 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.600 It's kind of interesting to think about the ways that 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:25.160 you're different. Body senses are based on different types of 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.120 matter and energy. So your eyes are for the electromagnetic spectrum, 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.720 a particular part of it. Your ears are for vibrations 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:37.240 of matter in the air, right, actual physical phenomena. Yeah, 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.720 and your nose and your tongue, so smell and taste 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.960 are for they're basically a chemistry set. Yeah, chemical particles. Yeah, 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.960 they essentially the shape of a molecule. Pretty much. I 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.200 mean I'm oversimplifying. Yes, we think the shape of the 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:57.120 molecule largely defines what it smells and or tastes. Like, 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:03.960 So you have odorance, that's the stuff what stinks right, Um, 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.560 this would be the little stinky line coming out of 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.240 Peppy Lap you when you see those old cartoons. Uh, 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.600 those stimulate the chemo receptors, which pass on electrical impulse 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.880 to the brain. The brain decodes that message and interprets 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.040 it as a specific odor, which leads us to the 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:25.680 perception of smell. So let's let's that's the big picture, 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.080 big picture, base level. Let it go straight into your 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.520 nose exactly. We're gonna we're gonna dive into the nose. 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:36.440 We're gonna pick it clean. Folks. Here we go. Alright, So, 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:38.040 like how you had to wind up to that one. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.640 That's great. So you've got these olfactory receptor cells in 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.240 your nose. Uh, they are neurons. So these are a 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.000 type of neuron. Basically, anything in your body that's sensing 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:53.120 anything is neural. Yeah. So so the neurons are complete 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.520 wood and drites. That's typical. Expect that with the neuron. 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.839 Those are the little squidly things that kind of extend 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.760 to poke out. So they have the dentrits with these 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.920 particular cells have old factory hairs, which I'll talk about 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.120 in a second, and they line a part of your 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.840 nasal cavity. It's the olfactory epithelium. It's actually a very 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.039 small bit. It's maybe like an inch square over yeah, 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.480 inside inside your sna And then that's it. You do 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.719 all you're smelling with this tiny little bit here. That's it, 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.480 and uh, mucus covers it, you know, good old snot 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.400 covers it, right, because mucus is actually a solvent for 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.719 many odorants. A lot of odorants are either alcohol or 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:40.279 water soluble um, and so so they help break down 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.840 any chemicals that happen to be floating around in the air, right, 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.360 so that your olfactories cells can actually interpret what that 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.320 is and thus send a signal to your brain of 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.880 what smell that is. Yeah, your mucus does stuff, Yeah, 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.240 cool stuff. That's stuff that's actually useful as opposed to 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.200 just making everything gross. Wait a minute, then I have 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.039 a question. How come when your nose is full of snot, 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.680 you don't smell super strong? Well at that point, at 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.039 that point, the covering is so great that nothing's getting 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:11.360 to the the olfactory sensor cells anyway. Okay, I see, 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.600 it's like a little goes along. It's a cruel joke, 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.280 is what it is. It's also cleaning off well, I mean, 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.280 the basic function of that is is that it's trying 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.000 to get rid of any bad stuff that's gotten. It's 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:27.520 it's essentially trapping various types of external stuff that shouldn't 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:29.680 be there and trying to let you get rid of 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.600 it either by swallowing it or blowing out your nose. Hey, 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:34.839 how that? How the cool is that? Walk me through 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.640 the love story of a chemical molecule and the and 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.640 the old factory cell in your nose? All right, here 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.240 we go. So you've got a volatile substance, all right. 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.760 So volatile substance is something that can easily turn into 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.480 a gas. Something that can't turn into a gas, something 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:54.239 that's non volatile doesn't really have a smell, yeah, because 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:56.720 it's not giving off anything for you to smell. It's 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.040 not actually getting in your nose. You can't get any 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.719 Brownian motion out of that staying in the stuff. Yeah. 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.920 So the volatile stuff that it can turn to a 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.240 guess that's what gives off the odorants, which are essentially 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.320 just airborne molecules. Some of them find their way into 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:15.080 your nasal cavity. Now, the molecules bind with the olfactory 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.720 hairs that I talked about earlier. They're on those dendrites 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.960 of the receptor cells. The mucus dissolves the odorants that 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:22.920 need to be dissolved, and then the receptor cell is 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.480 stimulated by this molecule. And here's where we get into 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:31.640 some academic disagreement about what's going on. There have been 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.320 a lot of studies that have looked into the science 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:36.720 of smells, and the fact is, like a lot of 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.120 things with the brain, we don't have the full story yet, 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.520 so we don't necessarily know which of the various models 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.200 is the most correct. But according to Richard Axel and 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.360 Linda Buck, who did extensive research into old factory sensing, 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.680 they say, each receptor cell has only one type of 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:59.480 receptor and can only detect a small number of related molecules, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.360 and it would respond more intensely to some molecules than other. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.880 So let's say that it's ideal for sensing molecule A, 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.480 but it can also sense molecules Z and B. But 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.360 when molecule A hits it, it gets a really strong sense, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.360 and then you would be able to perceive that smell 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.280 really well. If it's Z or B, it still reacts, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.640 but not at the same intensity as it would if 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:27.720 it were molecule A. All right, that's that's their their hypothesis. 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.760 And so essentially you would have a lot of specialized 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.560 receptor cells, lots of different types in your nasal cavity. 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.120 Otherwise you would only be able to detect us very 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.720 small number of smells. But obviously we can detect a 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.520 fairly wide range, not as wide as some other animals, 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.480 but but pretty impressive. And they also found that three 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.000 percent of human genes are coded for olfactory receptor types. 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.120 Pretty impressive when you consider it. Like again, like you 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.920 were saying, Joe, we perceive smell as being not that 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.320 important compared to some of our other senses, but you 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.440 know from it sid or hearing, from a genetic standpoint, 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:07.000 it's pretty important. Um. Meanwhile, Luca Turin has an alternative 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.640 hypothesis and suggest that instead of a large number of 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:15.520 specialized olfactory receptor cells, we may have fewer specialized cells, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.560 like a smaller number of specializations that can detect a 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:25.160 wider spectrum of odors through quantum vibration. That sounds like 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.720 one of those things made up in the screenplay to 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:33.040 explain Captain America's arm reverse the polarity, that kind of thing. 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.840 So in this sense, it would be the actual vibration 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.960 of the molecule itself and less about the shape of 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.120 the molecule, although even Turin does not go so far 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.240 as to say the molecular shape doesn't matter. The principal 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:51.240 hypothesis is that the quantum vibration is what ultimately determines 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.760 the signal that gets sent to the brain. At any rate, 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.319 a signal gets sent to the brain, and then your 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:01.080 brain ends up interpreting what that signal actually is. That's 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.800 pretty cool. But what I was actually wondering about this 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.520 about the sense of smell and the future of the 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.600 sense of smell, is the more we understand about our 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:14.440 bodies and brains, is there a reason to think that 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.360 we might be discovering the sense of smell is actually 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:22.480 more important to humans than we realize. It definitely is 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.720 very influential. Oh sure, well, I mean the thing is 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.600 that when it gets into your brain, it's not just 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.600 your brain going like that's an orange. It's your brain 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.800 going that's an orange, and I have feelings about it. Yeah, 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.680 as it turns out putting it. You know, when we 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.840 say it sends messages to the brain, we're not talking 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.520 about it just throws a message at the brain and 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.240 hopes that it gets to where it needs to go. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.679 Those messages go to a specific location. The olfactory bulb, 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.880 which is part of the limbic system limit system, has 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.280 a couple of other really important parts in it, like 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:58.679 a the campus memories, right yeah, yeah, it helps you 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:03.520 form associations specifically, and the magdala. We've got some important 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:05.360 parts here. These are These are all parts of the 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:11.160 brain that we tend to to associate with things like memory, mood, emotions, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:13.560 the In fact, the limbic system often a lot of 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.040 people call it the emotional part of the brain. Right, 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.320 So smell is right there with it. Now, don't go 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.640 so far as to suggest that smell and memory are 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:30.959 are directly entwined where they have a one to one relationship. However, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:35.400 smells can be associated with memory in a way that's 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:40.079 very tightly correlated. It's not um you know, you don't 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.520 wouldn't say that a smell automatically creates a memory. But 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.560 if you're creating a memory, like if you are committing 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.800 something to a memory, you're creating that neural pathway for 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.880 the first time, and as smells associated with it, then 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:56.120 the next time you encounter that smell can trigger the memory. Exactly. 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:01.719 You've probably experienced this yourself if you smell something that 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.840 you're that your grandmother specifically cooks and you had this 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.240 this wonderful childhood memory of of of eating dinner with 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.240 your grandparents then or you know, just just just different, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.160 different smells all the time. I can tell you, I 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.679 can tell you the one of the most powerful, uh 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:22.160 emotional reactions I have from a smell that I encountered 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.800 first when I was a kid, which is the smell 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.240 of a chlorinated indoor pool. As soon as I smell that, 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.920 I go back to when I was a kid taking 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.560 swimming lessons for the first time. I took swimming lessons 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.560 in an indoor pool at what was then Gainesville College. 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.160 It's not part of the University of Georgia system. And 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.920 it was a very stressful kind of traumatic experience for 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.199 me when it first started. And then I ended up 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.360 absolutely loving it by the time it was over. So 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.440 when I encounter the smell, I actually do feel a 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:55.920 sense of physical apprehension. And even if I'm not, like, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:57.840 if if I go through any sort of gem that 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.960 has that kind of like they have an indoor pool 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.760 or whatever, and I just walked by, it instantly triggers 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:08.160 that memory of five year old Jonathan, Uh, scared stiff 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:12.720 about jumping in water that's over his head. But it's 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.320 I mean, it's just it's true. It even now I 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:19.680 am many years separated from five year old Jonathan, but 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.920 it still happens. Yeah. For me, it's a charcoal grill 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.840 on a summer day takes me back to childhood. I 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.280 feel I feel like I want a dill pickle. Well, 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.480 that's cool, that's a very that's a very sweet memory. Yeah, 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.280 it's just one of those things where like, and of 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.320 course there are other smells that do this for me 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.920 as as well. It's just the pool one is so like, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.480 it's just so vibrant. And even knowing that my memories 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.120 of that time are not accurate, We've discussed this, how 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.960 memories are fallible. You cannot count on a memory being 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.840 an exact representation of what really happened to you in 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:59.920 some past event. Even knowing that it's still very evocative. 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.240 Oh yeah, yeah, it's really hard to to separate those out. Um. 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:05.760 But you don't have to take our word for it. No, 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.280 there are actual scientific studies that have shown how how 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.240 smell can affect not just memory, but our moods overall 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.120 and and our emotions. So I read about this one 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.880 study that was conducted by Rutgers University psychology professor Jeannette 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:24.000 Havevilyn Jones, and she used floral sense in an experiment 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:28.000 in which people were to describe three life events, one 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.280 in the distant past, one in their near past, and 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.160 one potential event in their future, so something that could 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.680 be possible down the line. And they also had to 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:43.320 interact with the mind. Terrifying right now, they interact with 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.000 the mind. They had to interact with the mind. There 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:49.000 there could this interaction be described as running away. It 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.760 could have been, in fact, and I'll get to something 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:54.400 that's similar to that in a second. Now that the 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.800 the direction they were given was to instruct the mind 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.640 to act out an emotion aociated with the memory from 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.840 their distant past, so a childhood memory that was the 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.160 direction they got. So they had a they had a 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.880 control room that was a neutral scent there was no 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:13.400 scent there, and they had the experimental room that had 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.600 a floral scent pumped into it. And they found that 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.880 the subjects who were in the floral scented room described 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.400 their memories and the possible future event with more positive 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.960 and happy language. They actually would went through all the 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.960 descriptions and flagged all the words that had any kind 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.800 of emotional attachment to them, And they discovered that those 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.680 who were in that floral scented room were more positive 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.160 and happy with their accounts, and the ones in the 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:45.240 neutral room used less frequently they would use that language, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.240 they might use more neutral or even negative language in 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.240 some of their memories. And when it came to the 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:54.640 interaction with the mine, they found that the participants in 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.960 the floral scented room would move toward or actually touched 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.880 the mind in order to instruct how to act out 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.160 this emotion, whereas only fift pent of the folks in 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:09.400 the neutral room did. Yeah. So, now, granted, of course, 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.160 you know, you gotta keep in mind, like I don't 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.360 know how large the sample sizes were, right, but still 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.640 very interesting. And the conclusion here is that sense can 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.040 shape our moods. And here's the crazy thing. You remember 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.000 I said that there was that one room that was 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.320 neutral and one room that had that floral scent. Well, 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.520 the floral set was actually undetectable. The scent was there, 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:35.080 but it was below the threshold of human detection. Yeah, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.560 you don't even have to be conscious of the scent 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.840 for it to affect you. And that's what I thought 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.160 was amazing. These smells can be what's you know, there's 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.640 subliminal smells. You don't even know about it. So it's 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.840 it's so faint as to be undetectable, and it can 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:52.000 still affect our behavior and decision making. So another study 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:56.080 that shows this was a Northwestern University Uh well, actually 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.800 I'm sorry. Northwestern University cited the study. It was published 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.520 in Psychological Science, in which subjects were presented with a 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.000 neutral face. They would look at the really a series 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.359 of neutral faces? Is there really such a thing as 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:10.880 a neutral face? If you play Dungeons and Dragons, there 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.719 is a series of neutral faces, so that I assume 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:21.400 they mean expressionless, chaotic neutral face. There's there's a there's 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:26.280 an expressions yea, or or possibly an open screen, but 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.560 at anyway, these were expressionless faces, a series of them, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:34.240 and you had again a control group and an experimental group. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.720 The experimental subjects were exposed to a sub threshold scent, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.679 and that scent could either be pleasant so that was 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:46.160 like a citrusy sort of lemony scent another subliminal scent, 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:50.560 or it could be an unpleasant scent, which was described 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:55.119 as being sweaty. I guess, so if you could actually 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.720 smell it, it would be pretty nasty. But again it 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.360 was below detectable levels, and the study on that those 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.240 who breathe in the pleasant scent commented that the neutral 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.320 face was likable. They said, you know, this is a 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.040 likable sort of person. They'd go through the the different 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.600 faces and that be their reaction, and those who smelled 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.080 the sweaty one will be less likely said it's not 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:18.800 so likable an unpleasant person. So again the conclusion appears 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.440 to be that these smells that we cannot necessarily consciously 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.560 detect can still affect our moods and thus affect our 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:33.639 impressions of things that we see and encounter. Sure, I 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:38.680 see where you're going, but but does that have any effect. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:43.360 I mean on larger issues, like like our actual decision 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.560 making processes. Let me let me paint a scenario. Just 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.000 this is this is going to take smell out of 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.680 the equation. Let me just paint a scenario. Let's say 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.719 you have had an amazing day like it has just 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.000 everything has gone well for you. You're feeling good, positive 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.800 about yourself, You've got great self image. Everything is. It's 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.160 just one of those days where you're just happy. It's 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.560 been nothing but green lights and eyebrow compliments. That's right. 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.360 Strangers on the street coming up to you offering free 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.680 shrimp cocktail at some point. That's not a great day 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.600 in Atlanta. Necessarily, especially on a summer day in Atlanta. 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.240 You do not want shrimp cocktail. Um, but I'm saying, 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.240 well iced, you know, alright, cocktail sauce. Let me get 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.760 to my point here. And anyway, you have an amazing 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:33.400 day and at the end of that day, someone approaches 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.679 you and asks if you would like to donate to 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.879 a cause that you actually do support. You might be 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.400 likely to actually do that because you're feeling great, You're 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.720 in a very positive mood, and you want to do something. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:46.400 You want to pay it forward. You want to keep 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.600 this positive stuff going. Now, let's say you've had the 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.920 worst day ever. It's just been awful. Everything's gone wrong, 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.080 all red lights, rainy day, outside boss has chewed you 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:58.760 out for something that was totally not your fault. Random 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.480 stranger on the street offered you really bad shrimp cocktail. 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.400 Nobody liked your eyebrows. No one liked your eyebrows. It's 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:08.560 the worst day ever. And you come home and your 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.080 encounter you encounter that person and it may still be 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.720 a cause that you really believe in, but your mood 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.359 is so bad that you may be less likely to 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.200 support it because you're kind of wrapped up in this 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.160 really crappy mood you're in. And yeah, you say, you say, 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:28.280 screw those hedgehogs. I am not donating, they're rescuing. In fact, 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:30.159 I will kick a hedgehog if there was one in 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.000 front of me, And you wouldn't really do it, but 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.560 you're thinking it because you're just in such a rotten mood. Yeah, 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.359 But one of the things about that scenario you've described 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.600 is that we're usually conscious enough to be able to 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:46.000 recognize that our emotions are influencing our decision making. In 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:50.080 a situation like that and in extremes perhaps, yes, and 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.760 that was an example of extremes obvious. No, no, no, no no, 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:57.239 I think we're going in the same direction here, So 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:00.600 you might not donate to something that later you think, Oh, 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:02.399 you know, I really should have given. I was just 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:04.439 in a bad mood. I've had a bad day. You 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.000 hear people use I've had a bad day as an 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.879 excuse for their behavior all the time. Yeah, you know, 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.920 they realize that it changes what kind of person they are. 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.960 But when we have our behavior affected by subliminal stimula, yeah, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:22.600 when you're unaware that there's even something affecting your behavior, 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.440 you could actually be put into something like that bad 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.119 mood position without knowing you've been there. You don't recognize 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.080 that you've had your behavior altered in such a way. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:36.040 And this is what's leading us to the power of 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:40.000 smell and its effect on our ability to make decisions. Now, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.080 one thing about decisions is a lot of our decisions 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.240 are based upon our memories. Right. We we remember previous 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.000 events that are at least in some way analogous to 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:51.959 our current situation, and then we end up making a 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.200 decision based on that and it may not be something 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:56.480 that's directly from our past. It may be a story 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.560 we heard from a friend. So for example, let's say 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.760 I'm out looking for a place to eat and I 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:07.080 happen to see a restaurant, or maybe even I'm just 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:09.720 walking around and I decide I want a particular type 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:11.440 of food because I'm smelling it, but I don't even 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:13.800 realize it, and I think back to a story of 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:17.840 friend told about having horrible food poisoning with this one 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:19.600 particular type of food, and then I'm like, oh no, 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.800 maybe I don't want to go there. It In part 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.480 of it, it means that the smells might trigger certain memories, 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:30.000 which in a in turn can affect our current decisions. 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:33.199 And maybe we have a spectrum of memories about that 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:38.360 particular subject, but the smell is triggering specific memories within 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:42.800 that spectrum and not triggering other memories. Thus it's influencing 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:46.440 us to one choice over the other choices. That's kind 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:48.879 of an interesting way to think about it. But just 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:50.760 imagine that you're in a situation where you have to 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.679 make a decision and you have several choices ahead of you. 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.320 In your past, you've got plenty of experience that would 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:02.399 have a pretty comp lex decision making process. But because 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:06.000