But how does it work?
Smells, explain scientists, work on us through the experiences associated with them. Ever wondered why the smell of Rajma chawal takes you back to your grandmother’s kitchen in Amritsar and a carefree childhood, or the tangy scent of Rasam transports you to the streets of Chennai, or the waft of Vanilla makes you go all warm and fuzzy?
It is because our olfactory receptors are directly linked to the limbic system, the most ancient and primitive part of the brain, which is thought to be the seat of emotion and associative learning. Simply put, we learn to associate events with odours and then those odours eventually conjure up the same feelings that those events evoked. No other sensory system has this sort of a link with emotions.
Interestingly, a number of studies have demonstrated that these learnings begin well before birth. Infants whose mothers had consumed strongly flavoured substances like garlic, alcohol or other distinctive smelling substances during pregnancy, showed a marked preference for those smells. These preferences even seemed to influence food preferences in life.
So, how can you increase productivity with smell preferences that most likely got formed during childhood?
The feelings associated with smells continue through our life and many enhance our moods. Exposing people to odours that they like, (who does not like cake and cookies?) has, in many studies, elevated their creativity and problem solving skills, leading to enhanced productivity.
By Suchismita Pai
