You might have experienced that when you see a picture of a certain event brings back memory and make you remember the old days. Well that is the purpose of keeping pictures to remember the moments when we were happy. This is called an associative memory because we or lets say our brain associate certain visual stimulus to a certain set of memories. The process by which brain makes association of two stimuli or one behaviour and stimuli is called associative learning. We might all know how photographs and visual media works but just don't know the technicality behind it. But some times even marketer take advantage of this phenomena and associated their brand with some kind of visual stimuli like a logo, colour, Trademark etc.
But these are all about visual stimuli but does this happens with smell too? The answer is yes our brain can associate all senses like smell, sound, touch and taste.
A smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people's moods and even affect their work performance. Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the "emotional brain," smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously.
The olfactory bulb has intimate access to the amygdala, which processes emotion, and the hippocampus, which is responsible for associative learning. Despite the tight wiring, however, smells would not trigger memories if it weren't for conditioned responses. When you first smell a new scent, you link it to an event, a person, a thing or even a moment. Your brain forges a link between the smell and a memory -- associating the smell of chlorine with bleaching of water or incenses with a funeral ritual. When you encounter the smell again, the link is already there, ready to elicit a memory or a mood. Same smell can trigger different memories in different people because everyone makes different association of smells in brain. Earlier talked incense sticks bringing back memory of funeral but at the same time it may bring the memory of a temple for some people.
Scent marketing is the latest type of marketing to stand out from the visual and auditory stimulus that dominates advertising. In this type of marketing the companies associate smell with their brand. Developers use carefully tuned scents to lure customers into a sense of well-being. Stores that sell shoes or shirts, items ideally not associated with odor, formulate aromas of ivy or crisp linen. Some companies even strive to develop a "brand scent," something that customers will associate with the company as much as a logo.
Enjoy reading and be open to the things that world has to offer.
Lux soap!
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