WEBVTT - The Sweet Smell of Happiness 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.876 Pushkin. Being a podcaster means you sometimes get some strange 0:00:23.916 --> 0:00:27.276 and unexpected deliveries. You see, whenever I read an ad 0:00:27.276 --> 0:00:29.116 for the show, it's only for a product that I 0:00:29.196 --> 0:00:31.516 know and like, and that means I'm often checking out 0:00:31.596 --> 0:00:34.716 new products before advertising them to you on the Happiness Lab. 0:00:34.956 --> 0:00:37.556 I often come home to random packages waiting for me 0:00:37.676 --> 0:00:40.516 on my doorstep. Our ads are what keeps the show going, 0:00:40.596 --> 0:00:42.876 which means you can keep listening to the Happiness Lab 0:00:42.916 --> 0:00:45.636 for free. But the other reason I love our advertisers 0:00:45.756 --> 0:00:47.476 is that the people who work at the companies who 0:00:47.516 --> 0:00:50.036 sponsor us are usually fans of the Happiness Lab, just 0:00:50.156 --> 0:00:52.276 like you. That's why they want to support the show 0:00:52.356 --> 0:00:54.636 and all the work we do. Take for example, my 0:00:54.676 --> 0:00:57.916 most recent delivery a colorful box of soaps and cleaners, 0:00:57.916 --> 0:01:01.036 which had a handwritten note inside. We are so excited 0:01:01.036 --> 0:01:03.316 to work with you. We are big fans, it said, 0:01:03.636 --> 0:01:07.316 Please enjoy some of our favorite products. Thanks missus Myers. 0:01:07.956 --> 0:01:11.196 These sentence samples around at the absolute perfect time, because 0:01:11.236 --> 0:01:13.156 over the past few months, I've gone on a bit 0:01:13.196 --> 0:01:16.356 of an olfactory journey. It's a challenge I started after 0:01:16.396 --> 0:01:19.156 I chatted with the Great Happiness Expert Gretchen Ruben. 0:01:19.476 --> 0:01:21.276 For some people, I think that this can be kind 0:01:21.276 --> 0:01:22.476 of an overlooked sense. 0:01:23.076 --> 0:01:25.236 Last year I spoke to Gretchen about her new book 0:01:25.436 --> 0:01:28.196 Life in Five Senses, which explores how we can get 0:01:28.236 --> 0:01:30.716 more joy from paying attention to the sights and sounds 0:01:30.716 --> 0:01:34.076 around us, but also to the smells. Gretchen says, we 0:01:34.156 --> 0:01:36.756 often neglect the impact that odor can have on us. 0:01:37.196 --> 0:01:39.396 She told me I should try harder to curate the 0:01:39.476 --> 0:01:40.476 smells that surround me. 0:01:40.716 --> 0:01:43.436 There's both eliminating the negative, which is what are the 0:01:43.476 --> 0:01:45.436 things that are bringing you down or draining you, and 0:01:45.476 --> 0:01:47.956 then the adding, which is what are the things that 0:01:48.116 --> 0:01:50.636 will make it feel richer. So you could say, like, okay, 0:01:50.836 --> 0:01:53.396 I'm in my home office, like maybe there's something that 0:01:53.516 --> 0:01:55.956 smells bad that I need to get rid of. Or 0:01:55.996 --> 0:01:58.596 you can add something good, whether that's making sure that 0:01:58.636 --> 0:02:00.516 you open the windows so that you get fresh air 0:02:00.596 --> 0:02:03.676 and the smell of the outdoors, or a plant or 0:02:04.156 --> 0:02:05.356 a scented candle. 0:02:06.316 --> 0:02:08.756 Who am I to argue with Gretchen Ruben? And so 0:02:08.996 --> 0:02:11.436 I've been working hard to eliminate smells I don't like 0:02:11.636 --> 0:02:14.036 and to introduce new sense that I do. But the 0:02:14.076 --> 0:02:16.356 process of paying attention to the sense I like has 0:02:16.396 --> 0:02:19.356 been kind of strange. I found lots of objectively nice 0:02:19.356 --> 0:02:22.196 smelling soaps and lotions that I totally dig. But I've 0:02:22.196 --> 0:02:25.596 also noticed other smells that aren't exactly nice, but that 0:02:25.676 --> 0:02:28.836 I do find comforting and relaxing, like the musty smell 0:02:28.876 --> 0:02:31.316 of old books or the scent of my favorite beach 0:02:31.356 --> 0:02:34.356 at low tide. What was behind my preference for these 0:02:34.676 --> 0:02:38.116 kind of weird smells. I really wanted to better understand 0:02:38.156 --> 0:02:41.436 this complicated intersection between smell and happiness a bit better, 0:02:41.796 --> 0:02:43.916 so I reached out to someone who also has a 0:02:43.956 --> 0:02:45.276 thing for odd odors. 0:02:45.676 --> 0:02:49.236 I know you're talking about the sense of skunk, my 0:02:49.796 --> 0:02:51.036 dirty secret pleasure. 0:02:51.396 --> 0:02:53.516 This is smell expert Rachel Hers. 0:02:53.676 --> 0:02:56.036 Which actually, since I have come out of the closet, 0:02:56.196 --> 0:02:58.476 many people come and confess to me that they also 0:02:58.636 --> 0:03:00.836 really like the smell of skunk, so I am not alone. 0:03:01.076 --> 0:03:03.836 Rachel's a neuroscientist who's been studying our sense of smell 0:03:03.876 --> 0:03:06.956 for over thirty years. She's written books like The Scent 0:03:07.036 --> 0:03:11.516 of Desire about why smell is so enigmatic and That's Disgusting, 0:03:11.796 --> 0:03:14.956 a book exploring all things that turn our stomachs for 0:03:15.036 --> 0:03:17.956 most people, the stench of a skunk definitely falls into 0:03:17.956 --> 0:03:21.996 that second category. It's pretty awful. But Rachel's research has 0:03:21.996 --> 0:03:25.036 shown that our relationship with smell is so personal that 0:03:25.116 --> 0:03:27.396 even a scent evolved to drive us away can be 0:03:27.436 --> 0:03:30.476 oddly attractive, and for Rachel, the smell of a skunk 0:03:30.716 --> 0:03:32.596 only has positive associations. 0:03:32.876 --> 0:03:35.236 I do like the scent of skunk, and the reason 0:03:35.316 --> 0:03:38.836 for it is because the first time I ever smelled skunk, 0:03:38.956 --> 0:03:40.876 I was in the backseat of the car. It was 0:03:40.916 --> 0:03:43.756 probably maybe around four years old, It's hard to say exactly. 0:03:44.036 --> 0:03:47.516 Middle of the summer, windows roll down, driving through the countryside, 0:03:47.676 --> 0:03:50.756 beautiful day, and all all of a sudden, there's a 0:03:50.836 --> 0:03:53.836 scent wafting into the car, and from the front seat, 0:03:53.876 --> 0:03:56.476 my mom says, oh my, move that smell. Now, she 0:03:56.556 --> 0:03:59.316 doesn't actually name it, she just says, I love that smell. 0:03:59.876 --> 0:04:03.796 So here I am beautiful, happy, I love mommy. Mommy 0:04:03.796 --> 0:04:06.796 said something positive. So whatever that smell is, you know, 0:04:06.996 --> 0:04:09.996 I love that smell too. So fast forward about three 0:04:10.116 --> 0:04:12.956 or four years and I'm on the playground and all 0:04:12.956 --> 0:04:16.276 of a sudden, that same smell comes along and I go, oh, 0:04:16.356 --> 0:04:18.636 I love that smell, And people go ooh, grows, You're 0:04:18.716 --> 0:04:22.396 so weird. That's disgusting that skunk. And I did not 0:04:22.716 --> 0:04:25.396 know that that was a skunk first of all, and 0:04:25.476 --> 0:04:28.756 b that everyone thought like pepe lapew, whether it's really 0:04:28.916 --> 0:04:31.836 believe it's horrible or not, there's all this negative connotation 0:04:31.956 --> 0:04:34.556 around it. I was already perceived of as weird because 0:04:34.556 --> 0:04:37.396 I was a newcomer to the school, so this really 0:04:37.436 --> 0:04:39.996 sealed my fate as you know, someone who should be 0:04:40.036 --> 0:04:43.076 stayed away from. And this really also explains how our 0:04:43.116 --> 0:04:46.396 responses to all odors are actually based upon the meaning 0:04:46.636 --> 0:04:49.356 that we have learned to be associated with the odor, 0:04:49.636 --> 0:04:53.316 most times through personal experience. Could also be cultural. So 0:04:53.436 --> 0:04:55.596 for example, it could be the case that I had 0:04:55.636 --> 0:04:58.356 never smelt skunk before but just seen the Peppy la 0:04:58.356 --> 0:05:00.436 Pew cartoons, in which case I would have formed a 0:05:00.476 --> 0:05:03.676 negative association to that skunk smells bad. It is supposed 0:05:03.716 --> 0:05:05.916 to be bad, even without having ever smelled it. So 0:05:05.956 --> 0:05:08.836 we have this sort of interaction between our personal experience 0:05:09.196 --> 0:05:12.716 cultural significance of a scent. And one of the other 0:05:12.796 --> 0:05:15.956 things that's interesting too is that skunks are actually not 0:05:16.196 --> 0:05:19.876 native to Scandinavia and so they're not known there. And 0:05:19.916 --> 0:05:22.436 I had some friends from Sweden visiting me, actually all 0:05:22.476 --> 0:05:25.236 faction experts as well, and we were walking down the 0:05:25.276 --> 0:05:27.236 street near my house when I lived kind of in 0:05:27.276 --> 0:05:29.836 a country ish area, and it was in the summertime, 0:05:29.956 --> 0:05:32.676 and it just so happened, luckily enough for me, that 0:05:32.676 --> 0:05:35.756 that scent was, you know, on the breeze. So I 0:05:35.836 --> 0:05:38.076 turned to my colleagues and I said, have you ever 0:05:38.116 --> 0:05:40.036 smelled that before? And they go no, And I said, 0:05:40.316 --> 0:05:42.356 so what do you think of it? They oh, it's okay, 0:05:42.716 --> 0:05:45.316 it's interesting. It's like, well, what is that? So I 0:05:45.356 --> 0:05:47.876 said that skunk and then they were like, oh, yeah, yeah, 0:05:47.916 --> 0:05:49.916 what does that supposed to me? And then I said, 0:05:49.956 --> 0:05:52.436 everybody here thinks it's awful or there's a post that 0:05:52.436 --> 0:05:54.476 think is awful. And they're like, oh, you know, it 0:05:54.516 --> 0:05:57.196 doesn't have any good or bad necessarily to me. You know, 0:05:57.596 --> 0:06:00.636 could be nice. And our responses to smells are based 0:06:00.676 --> 0:06:02.516 on the meaning of the smell, but they're also based 0:06:02.556 --> 0:06:05.676 on how strong the scent is to us. So I 0:06:05.796 --> 0:06:08.356 have never been sprayed by a skunk. I've never had 0:06:08.356 --> 0:06:10.236 my dogs spray by a skunk, so I have to 0:06:10.276 --> 0:06:12.356 like live up close and personal with that scent. And 0:06:12.396 --> 0:06:14.996 my encounters have been, like I mentioned, on the breeze, 0:06:15.036 --> 0:06:16.876 just sort of at some kind of a distance. But 0:06:16.916 --> 0:06:20.436 this also speaks to the fact that my intensity perception 0:06:20.516 --> 0:06:23.596 of skunk is unique to me to a certain extent. 0:06:23.716 --> 0:06:26.596 So other people may at the same intensity of just 0:06:26.716 --> 0:06:29.996 on the breeze be perceiving certain chemicals in that bouquet 0:06:30.116 --> 0:06:33.236 is really intense, even though other people might consider it 0:06:33.316 --> 0:06:35.596 kind of moderate or weak. And if you think something 0:06:35.636 --> 0:06:38.756 smells really intense, it's going to be more negative. So 0:06:38.796 --> 0:06:42.356 there's also the genetics behind are all factory receptor expression, 0:06:42.716 --> 0:06:45.516 and everybody's actually ever so slightly different from everyone else. 0:06:45.836 --> 0:06:48.916 That is going to play into how strong something is, 0:06:48.956 --> 0:06:51.156 and the more strong something is anything, even like your 0:06:51.156 --> 0:06:53.916 favorite smell, if it's like super super pungent, they're gonna 0:06:53.956 --> 0:06:56.156 be like, oh, that's too much like perfume, for instance. 0:06:56.316 --> 0:06:59.356 And so I'm curious, given that negative experience on the playground, 0:06:59.356 --> 0:07:01.556 did that make you kind of anti smell? Did you 0:07:01.596 --> 0:07:03.916 like never want to think about that sensation because you 0:07:03.916 --> 0:07:06.156 seem like somebody in Lisa as an adult who's kind 0:07:06.156 --> 0:07:06.876 of into smell. 0:07:07.196 --> 0:07:10.356 Oh yes, absolutely, very very to smell. And I actually 0:07:10.356 --> 0:07:12.916 always was like I always was a really sensory person. 0:07:13.036 --> 0:07:15.156 Like my mother was always yelling at me stop squeezing 0:07:15.156 --> 0:07:18.636 the bread. I was always definitely smelling everything around me. 0:07:18.676 --> 0:07:19.956 But I actually thought that was normal. 0:07:20.076 --> 0:07:21.916 But in some ways, being really into smell is really 0:07:21.956 --> 0:07:24.436 not normal. In your book, you talk about how smell 0:07:24.516 --> 0:07:26.436 is this orphaned cousin of the senses. 0:07:26.476 --> 0:07:28.636 What do you mean there, Well, I think that there's 0:07:28.676 --> 0:07:33.076 a disconnect between being experientially or perceptually into smell. So 0:07:33.116 --> 0:07:35.436 there's definitely a lot of people that will only buy 0:07:35.516 --> 0:07:38.116 certain products because of how they smell, like they're unscrewing 0:07:38.156 --> 0:07:40.316 the cap of the shampoo in the drug store to 0:07:40.356 --> 0:07:42.276 make sure that they like it. Are other kinds of 0:07:42.276 --> 0:07:44.716 products like that that are definitely making a lot of 0:07:44.996 --> 0:07:48.516 simple life choices based on how something smells to them, 0:07:48.516 --> 0:07:51.156 and actually maybe even not so simple, maybe like your partner, 0:07:51.316 --> 0:07:53.476 other kinds of things like that. So I think people's 0:07:53.716 --> 0:07:57.116 actual experience with scent is much more deep and broad. 0:07:57.316 --> 0:08:00.796 But the discussion around scent and the verbalization and the 0:08:00.916 --> 0:08:03.956 recognition that this isn't just something trivial or just a 0:08:03.956 --> 0:08:07.236 little accessory to my existence, but actually something really fundamental 0:08:07.276 --> 0:08:09.716 to my existence. That's where the disc connect is, and 0:08:09.756 --> 0:08:13.276 that's where most people as well as most scientists for 0:08:13.316 --> 0:08:16.036 a long time, have really considered the sense of smell 0:08:16.116 --> 0:08:18.516 to be so marginal and to really speak to how 0:08:18.556 --> 0:08:21.236 much we disregard sent a couple of years ago, actually 0:08:21.276 --> 0:08:23.436 so in the height of the pandemic, we collected the 0:08:23.476 --> 0:08:25.996 data in the spring of twenty twenty one, developed a 0:08:26.076 --> 0:08:28.836 survey to look at first of all, how people value 0:08:28.836 --> 0:08:31.156 their sense of smell to hearing and vision, and then 0:08:31.196 --> 0:08:34.876 also in comparison to some basic commodities like your cell 0:08:34.916 --> 0:08:38.036 phone or a dream vacation or your hair, for instance. 0:08:38.036 --> 0:08:40.636 We had different kinds of things physical and then more 0:08:40.756 --> 0:08:43.276 sort of social and so on, and we found we 0:08:43.356 --> 0:08:45.676 had a large data set of subjects who were both 0:08:46.076 --> 0:08:49.276 a university level and also sort of real adults and 0:08:49.516 --> 0:08:52.996 the forty something group. And amongst the college students, twenty 0:08:53.036 --> 0:08:55.316 five percent of them would give up their sense of 0:08:55.316 --> 0:08:58.236 smell to keep their cell phone, and fifty percent of 0:08:58.276 --> 0:08:59.996 them would give up their sense of smell to keep 0:09:00.036 --> 0:09:03.356 their hair. The adults group was a little bit less, 0:09:03.476 --> 0:09:05.676 you know, throw it away, but they were pretty close, 0:09:05.796 --> 0:09:07.596 like there was someone like they were like, oh, we 0:09:07.636 --> 0:09:09.476 wouldn't do this at all. They were like maybe a 0:09:09.476 --> 0:09:11.796 few points less willing to give up their sense of 0:09:11.796 --> 0:09:14.596 smell for something else. But I was really quite stunned. 0:09:14.636 --> 0:09:16.836 And also because of the fact that although we didn't 0:09:16.836 --> 0:09:18.956 really have a good comparison, point like to do this 0:09:18.996 --> 0:09:21.716 in twenty eighteen and see the comparison. But I thought, 0:09:21.716 --> 0:09:24.676 because there was so much media about smell loss and 0:09:24.716 --> 0:09:28.116 about how people's story is about how awful it was 0:09:28.156 --> 0:09:31.396 they're even temporary smell loss and then long term smell loss, 0:09:31.476 --> 0:09:33.476 that there would be this sort of recognition, like this 0:09:33.516 --> 0:09:35.636 should be a high point of people saying, oh, my 0:09:35.676 --> 0:09:37.556 sense of smell is actually more important than I thought 0:09:37.596 --> 0:09:37.876 it was. 0:09:38.076 --> 0:09:39.636 And this kind of fits with what we see just 0:09:39.636 --> 0:09:41.716 in the world. I mean, we think of technologies right 0:09:41.716 --> 0:09:44.676 like I'm wearing contact lenses right now that improve my vision. 0:09:44.796 --> 0:09:48.036 We have hearing aids to improve people's hearing. We don't 0:09:48.036 --> 0:09:50.876 actually have any technologies that help us improve our smell. 0:09:50.916 --> 0:09:52.956 But that might be part and parcel of the fact 0:09:52.956 --> 0:09:54.676 that we just like don't see smells that important. 0:09:54.876 --> 0:09:57.636 Well, so two sides of that. One, you're absolutely right 0:09:57.716 --> 0:10:00.196 and up until now, and I hope that this is 0:10:00.236 --> 0:10:02.916 going to be changing soon. But the American Medical Association, 0:10:03.036 --> 0:10:06.076 for example, values smell loss is only between one and 0:10:06.196 --> 0:10:09.676 five percent of your life's worth. Value example, if you 0:10:09.716 --> 0:10:12.516 were in a compensation case, like you become blind or 0:10:12.796 --> 0:10:16.156 you lose another sense, how much should you be compensated 0:10:16.236 --> 0:10:19.116 for that? Well, vision you get eighty five percent of 0:10:19.156 --> 0:10:22.276 whatever your salary might be extended out for the next 0:10:22.276 --> 0:10:25.076 twenty years. Per smell you get anywhere between one and 0:10:25.116 --> 0:10:28.076 five percent. So really sort of idealize as hardly important 0:10:28.076 --> 0:10:31.036 at all. However, as a function of the pandemic and 0:10:31.196 --> 0:10:36.756 also new technology, new innovation, there's actually various things in 0:10:36.796 --> 0:10:40.436 the pipeline that are going to be available relatively soon. 0:10:40.516 --> 0:10:43.076 I hope that will in fact be things that can 0:10:43.116 --> 0:10:45.756 help people's sense of smell be augmented, so sort of 0:10:45.836 --> 0:10:48.356 the equivalent of a hearing aid for your nose. 0:10:48.716 --> 0:10:50.596 And that's going to be really important because what I 0:10:50.676 --> 0:10:53.156 learned from your book is that it really deeply affects 0:10:53.236 --> 0:10:55.076 us in our happiness when we lose a sense of smell. 0:10:55.156 --> 0:10:56.716 Give me a sense of what are the kinds of 0:10:56.796 --> 0:10:59.396 things that happen when we lose our old faction? 0:10:59.876 --> 0:11:03.956 So what is really shocking to people? And unfortunately, unless 0:11:03.956 --> 0:11:06.716 you've had the experience, you really just don't realize. I mean, 0:11:06.796 --> 0:11:08.836 multeple will say, oh yeah, well, food, I can see 0:11:08.836 --> 0:11:12.036 how that involved. Or maybe I couldn't smell the gas leaks, 0:11:12.036 --> 0:11:14.396 so there's certain like danger things that okay, I could 0:11:14.476 --> 0:11:17.476 understand that sort of more readily. But actually, our sense 0:11:17.476 --> 0:11:21.596 of smell is involved in pretty much everything about our life, 0:11:21.676 --> 0:11:25.556 in every way every day. So food, of course, because 0:11:25.836 --> 0:11:28.076 what most people don't realize is that the sense of 0:11:28.156 --> 0:11:31.476 taste is really only salt, sour, sweet, bitter and new mommy, 0:11:31.596 --> 0:11:34.596 but everything else we experience when we're eating. So bacon, 0:11:34.676 --> 0:11:38.476 for example, just taste like salt. The flavor is comprised 0:11:38.476 --> 0:11:41.596 of one hundred and fifty different volatile organic compounds that 0:11:41.716 --> 0:11:46.556 fuse together to make this bouquet of bacon. And people 0:11:46.716 --> 0:11:48.676 use the word taste. They really should be saying flavor. 0:11:48.716 --> 0:11:50.076 But all of that is to do with your nose. 0:11:50.476 --> 0:11:54.076 Food really does lose pretty much almost all of its 0:11:54.076 --> 0:11:57.836 hedonic pleasure qualities other than salt, sugar, and fat, and 0:11:58.196 --> 0:12:01.876 people get very upset, and depending upon their personality their 0:12:01.916 --> 0:12:05.236 previous relationship with food, it can become more and more serious. 0:12:05.436 --> 0:12:08.556 There's also all the aspects of one's personal life which 0:12:08.556 --> 0:12:11.556 we don't realize. I mean, our intimate relationships with other 0:12:11.596 --> 0:12:14.836 people we don't quite necessarily grasp. But you hug somebody, 0:12:14.916 --> 0:12:17.476 even if just like at a certain proximity, maybe they 0:12:17.516 --> 0:12:20.036 have a certain perfume or colone they usually wear. When 0:12:20.036 --> 0:12:22.636 you smell that, that's like kind of bringing you intensely 0:12:22.756 --> 0:12:27.316 together with that person. Your memories are based very much 0:12:27.436 --> 0:12:30.076 on things that you smell. People don't often realize that 0:12:30.196 --> 0:12:32.916 they've smelled something and it's making them feel nostalgic, or 0:12:32.916 --> 0:12:35.156 it's bringing them back to a specific moment in time, 0:12:35.276 --> 0:12:38.796 and all these things as it's going along, are actually 0:12:38.996 --> 0:12:41.796 triggering emotion. And this is because the area of the 0:12:41.836 --> 0:12:45.276 brain where our conscious perception of scent takes place is 0:12:45.316 --> 0:12:48.316 the same part of the brain where emotion, memory, and 0:12:48.476 --> 0:12:52.476 association is being formed. So the same brain areas doing 0:12:52.516 --> 0:12:55.476 these two things. So instantly that we smell something, we 0:12:55.516 --> 0:12:58.316 are getting some kind of feeling, some kind of visceral 0:12:58.636 --> 0:13:01.316 connection to that, and it can be negative. I mean, 0:13:01.356 --> 0:13:05.156 for example, PTSD can be triggered by scent, and often 0:13:05.196 --> 0:13:10.236 those episodes are amongst the worst because it's so visceral, overwhelming, 0:13:10.556 --> 0:13:13.476 because of the emotional intensity of it. But likewise, we 0:13:13.516 --> 0:13:17.516 can also get so much joy and direct connection to 0:13:17.676 --> 0:13:20.996 other people, to our past, to places through our sense 0:13:20.996 --> 0:13:21.396 of smell. 0:13:21.716 --> 0:13:24.236 So that's one big misconception about smell, this idea that 0:13:24.276 --> 0:13:26.396 we think it's like not that important, but in fact 0:13:26.436 --> 0:13:28.756 it matters for so many different aspects of our lives. 0:13:28.996 --> 0:13:31.316 I think the second misconception that we have about smell 0:13:31.676 --> 0:13:35.516 involves where our different smell associations come from. I think 0:13:35.556 --> 0:13:38.076 we assume that certain kinds of smells are kind of 0:13:38.116 --> 0:13:41.036 built in as bad, certain kinds of smells are built 0:13:41.036 --> 0:13:43.196 in as good. Is this really true or is this 0:13:43.236 --> 0:13:44.956 another spot where we get old faction wrong. 0:13:45.236 --> 0:13:49.356 Pretty much, there is no innate response to a scent 0:13:49.516 --> 0:13:51.476 per se, And what I want to do is sort 0:13:51.476 --> 0:13:53.236 of unpack a little bit of what is going on 0:13:53.276 --> 0:13:56.756 when we're smelling itself. So, when we're smelling, we're perceiving 0:13:57.036 --> 0:13:59.996 volatile chemicals, So that means chemicals that are floating through 0:14:00.036 --> 0:14:04.076 the air we inhale. Those chemicals come in through our nostrils. 0:14:04.156 --> 0:14:07.076 They then interact with the olfactory sensory neuron, which is 0:14:07.276 --> 0:14:10.396 are basically at the level of our eyeb But when 0:14:10.396 --> 0:14:13.556 we are smelling something. These chemicals can have a variety 0:14:13.556 --> 0:14:16.836 of different effects on another system as well, which is 0:14:16.876 --> 0:14:20.716 called the trigeminal system. It's a actually a tactile system 0:14:20.996 --> 0:14:23.196 where for instance, if you're chopping onions, it makes your 0:14:23.236 --> 0:14:26.556 eyes tier. If you're, you know, smelling mint, that cooling 0:14:26.596 --> 0:14:30.796 sensation comes from trigeminal The hotness of a hot pepper 0:14:30.916 --> 0:14:34.876 comes from trigeminal stimulation as well. So many smells also 0:14:34.956 --> 0:14:38.076 trigger the trigeminal system. If at the same time as 0:14:38.076 --> 0:14:41.796 smelling something, and the trigeminal system is activated very intensely, 0:14:41.836 --> 0:14:45.316 that can feel painful. That's pretty much the only quote 0:14:45.396 --> 0:14:47.836 unquote innate response we can have to a smell. If 0:14:47.876 --> 0:14:51.916 it's activating the trigeminal system as well as the olfactory system, 0:14:52.116 --> 0:14:54.436 and it's hurting, then it's going to be like immediately. 0:14:54.516 --> 0:14:58.556 No other than that, we are pretty much a blank slate. Now. 0:14:58.596 --> 0:15:01.356 It's kind of hard to imagine that because it seems 0:15:01.356 --> 0:15:03.876 as if you know, skunk is bad and roses good 0:15:03.956 --> 0:15:06.716 and everything else. But really places to look for this 0:15:06.796 --> 0:15:10.316 are number one newborns, although there's a little caveat there 0:15:10.356 --> 0:15:14.436 as well, because actually by three months of gestation time 0:15:14.836 --> 0:15:18.356 the fetus is already capable of detecting the chemicals in 0:15:18.516 --> 0:15:22.116 amniotic fluid that its mother is consuming, so we're already learning. 0:15:22.236 --> 0:15:25.316 And where this really plays into a major impact is 0:15:25.476 --> 0:15:28.236 where you know, food preferences come from. So you can 0:15:28.276 --> 0:15:30.676 have a baby that's born ready to sort of eat 0:15:30.716 --> 0:15:33.236 the food of that culture because of the fact that 0:15:33.276 --> 0:15:36.036 it's actually been already pre exposed to that food before 0:15:36.036 --> 0:15:38.996 it was born. But the idea that you know there's 0:15:39.036 --> 0:15:42.796 this sort of universal good, bad and otherwise is really 0:15:42.836 --> 0:15:46.116 based on experience. Because newborns, if they're given, for instance, 0:15:46.396 --> 0:15:49.556 vanilla versus something that smells like sweaty socks or vomit, 0:15:49.676 --> 0:15:51.836 if you look at their facial expressions, which is how 0:15:51.836 --> 0:15:53.556 you're going to judge if they're liking it or not, 0:15:53.676 --> 0:15:57.236 you see everything from grinning at smelly socks and vomit 0:15:57.596 --> 0:16:01.156 or making a discussed looking face to vanilla. And then 0:16:01.196 --> 0:16:04.116 you look a cross culturally and you also see huge 0:16:04.236 --> 0:16:06.756 variation in what is considered good or bad. And we 0:16:06.796 --> 0:16:08.636 really see this in a food. So like the idea 0:16:08.636 --> 0:16:11.236 of man's meat is and other men's poisoned there really 0:16:11.276 --> 0:16:13.876 comes from this massive effect of culture. 0:16:14.116 --> 0:16:17.116 One of the examples I loved was this interesting smell 0:16:17.196 --> 0:16:20.436 of winter green and looking at how it's perceived between 0:16:20.476 --> 0:16:22.956 Americans versus the British. Do you want to share that story? 0:16:22.996 --> 0:16:24.116 Because I found it so compelling. 0:16:24.196 --> 0:16:26.836 It's almost funny in a weird way, because, especially if 0:16:26.836 --> 0:16:28.956 you're an American and you're listening to this, you're like, well, 0:16:28.996 --> 0:16:31.516 of course winter green smells good. It's like it's a mint, 0:16:31.716 --> 0:16:34.516 it's a candy, it's paired with sugar. You know who 0:16:34.516 --> 0:16:36.836 doesn't like winter green? But it turns out that in 0:16:36.876 --> 0:16:38.716 the UK sort of like you know, if they give 0:16:38.756 --> 0:16:41.796 us the United Kingdom the US, two countries separated by 0:16:41.796 --> 0:16:45.236 a common language, what else is different between the two 0:16:45.316 --> 0:16:48.276 of us. Well, people in the UK generally can't stand 0:16:48.316 --> 0:16:51.156 the smell of winter green because their experience of it 0:16:51.196 --> 0:16:55.396 comes from the scent of this analgesic bomb, so medicine, 0:16:55.436 --> 0:16:58.476 and then nowadays actually winter green is also the scent 0:16:58.596 --> 0:17:02.636 of toilet cleaning products in the UK, so a medicine 0:17:02.756 --> 0:17:06.116 b toilets, I don't think so not eating that anyway, 0:17:07.436 --> 0:17:10.556 versus the US, where it's candy, and so really different 0:17:10.636 --> 0:17:13.916 association positive in one case, negative. 0:17:13.556 --> 0:17:16.156 In the other. So this explains why my friends from 0:17:16.156 --> 0:17:19.476 England often turn their noses up at perfectly good American candy. 0:17:19.956 --> 0:17:21.916 But could a brit learn to love winter green in 0:17:21.956 --> 0:17:22.716 the same way I do? 0:17:23.236 --> 0:17:23.516 Well. 0:17:23.596 --> 0:17:25.876 It turns out that we can train ourselves to love 0:17:25.916 --> 0:17:29.036 smells if we can link them to positive experiences, and 0:17:29.076 --> 0:17:31.476 we can even use these newly linked up scents to 0:17:31.516 --> 0:17:34.316 lift our spirits when we're feeling down. We'll hear more 0:17:34.356 --> 0:17:36.436 on all of that after a quick break in some 0:17:36.556 --> 0:17:46.716 of those all important ads. Neuroscientist Rachel Hers had to 0:17:46.756 --> 0:17:49.116 put up with lots of teasing when her schoolmates heard 0:17:49.156 --> 0:17:51.476 that she liked the smell of skunks, those animals that 0:17:51.556 --> 0:17:53.996 reminded her of happy summer car rides with her mom. 0:17:54.516 --> 0:17:56.316 The power of smell to take us right back to 0:17:56.396 --> 0:17:58.756 happy as well as sad moments from the past is 0:17:58.756 --> 0:18:01.756 almost unparalleled. A whiff of cologne can remind us of 0:18:01.796 --> 0:18:04.356 a long dead romance, while the smell of a sharpie 0:18:04.396 --> 0:18:07.476 can transport us back to college exam time. While there 0:18:07.516 --> 0:18:11.036 are some sense we'd happily ever smell again, Rachel suggests 0:18:11.076 --> 0:18:13.676 we try to identify the smells that prompt a positive 0:18:13.716 --> 0:18:16.276 reaction once we can turn to whenever we need a 0:18:16.276 --> 0:18:19.356 little happiness boost her go to Fragrance is from a 0:18:19.436 --> 0:18:20.436 childhood shampoo. 0:18:21.236 --> 0:18:22.996 We moved around a lot when I was a kid. 0:18:23.316 --> 0:18:26.276 My parents were professors. We lived in Europe, we lived 0:18:26.276 --> 0:18:28.876 in the US. We were bouncing around pretty much every 0:18:28.876 --> 0:18:31.316 ten months, sometimes every six months for the first, you know, 0:18:31.356 --> 0:18:33.436 six or seven years of my life. So at the 0:18:33.476 --> 0:18:36.276 age of seven, we land in Montreal, and it was 0:18:36.476 --> 0:18:39.076 it was tough with all that sort of moving around, 0:18:39.156 --> 0:18:41.916 especially when I first started school. I come in as 0:18:41.956 --> 0:18:45.316 the newcomer. I don't even last necessarily the full year. 0:18:45.436 --> 0:18:48.036 I'm yanked out. I go somewhere else. So, like I 0:18:48.156 --> 0:18:50.436 shared with the story of the skunk, you know, I'm 0:18:50.436 --> 0:18:53.956 a newcomer and I'm weird already, and now I'm proclaiming that, 0:18:54.036 --> 0:18:55.836 you know, skunk is one of my favorite smells. So 0:18:55.956 --> 0:18:59.676 definitely ostracized, did not have friends, felt really alone, felt 0:18:59.676 --> 0:19:03.356 really isolated, really desperately wanted social connection and so forth, 0:19:03.356 --> 0:19:06.156 and I was pretty unhappy, and you know, there was 0:19:06.236 --> 0:19:08.276 all kinds of things going on that very first year 0:19:08.276 --> 0:19:10.516 in Montreal. It was a terrible winter too, was like 0:19:10.556 --> 0:19:14.356 they had like crazy amounts of snowfall and really really cold, 0:19:14.356 --> 0:19:16.996 so that really also impacted even just going outside to 0:19:17.156 --> 0:19:21.636 play and so forth. And one day during these cold days, 0:19:22.036 --> 0:19:25.196 someone came, like a literally traveling salesman or door to 0:19:25.236 --> 0:19:29.476 door salesman with these packages of shampoo and conditioner and 0:19:29.516 --> 0:19:32.076 I think also maybe like the bubbly stuff to put 0:19:32.116 --> 0:19:34.716