Practice Set 8 Test 2 (C8T2) | The meaning and power of smell

The meaning and power of smell

A

A survey conducted by Anthony Synott at Montreal’s Concordia University asked participants to perceptioncomment onobjectivelya rush of joybình luận về how important smell was to them in their lives. It became apparent that smell can invested withIn the realm ofevokerecollectionskhơi, gợi strong emotional responses. A scent associated with a good experience can bring a rush of joy, while a investigation intofoulassociationsinfantshôi thối odour or one associated with a bad memory may make us grimace with disgust. perceptionRespondentsolfactionsensationngười được hỏi to the survey noted that many of their olfactory likes and dislikes were based on emotional associations. Such associations can be powerful enough so that odours that we would generally invested withinteracting witha rush of joylabelgán cho, cho là unpleasant become agreeable, and those that we would generally consider fragrant become disagreeable for particular individuals. The perceptionassociationsbased ondistinguish us fromý niệm, nhận thức of smell, therefore, consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them.

B

Odours are also essential invested withessence ofcuesbased ontín hiệu, dấu hiệu in social bonding. One respondent to the survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, elusiveessence ofinevitablyinfantsđứa trẻ sơ sinh recognise the odours of their mothers soon after birth and adults can often identify their children or spouses by scent. In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people. Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odour as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealeda rush of joyimplicationsbased ontiết lộ, even when not consciously considered, smells register.

C

In spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most a rush of joyassociationsundervaluedelusiveđánh giá thấp sense in many cultures. The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeblegrimaceassociationsinteriorisedkém and undeveloped. While it is true that the olfactory powers of humans are nothing like as fine as those possessed by certain animals, they are still remarkably nhạy bén, tinh, thính (giác quan). Our noses are able to recognise thousands of smells, and to perceive odours which are present only in extremely small quantities.

D

Smell, however, is a highly registeringelusiveolfactoryfragrantkhó giải thích phenomenon. Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn’t exist. ‘It smells like . . .,’ we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience. Nor can odours be recorded: there is no effective way to either capture or store them over time. scentobjectivelyIn the realm ofconsidered to be offensivelĩnh vực/khía cạnh olfaction, we must make do with descriptions and recollections. This has implicationsa rush of joysensationcomponentsquan hệ mật thiết for olfactory research.

E

Most of the research on smell undertaken to date has been of a physical scientific nature. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the biological and chemical nature of consciouslyrecollectionsolfactionfragrantkhứu giác, but many fundamental questions have yet to be answered. Researchers have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two – one responding to odours proper and the other ghi nhận, ghi dấu ấn odourless chemicals in the air. Other unanswered questions are whether the nose is the only part of the body affected by odours, and how smells can be measured objectivelyassociationsinevitablydistinguish us from1 cách khách quan given the nonphysical components. Questions like these mean that interest in the psychology of smell is essence ofinevitablyconsidered to be offensivebased onchắc chắn, không thể tránh khỏi set to play an increasingly important role for researchers.

F

However, smell is not simply a biological and psychological phenomenon. Smell is cultural, hence it is a social and historical phenomenon. Odours are interacting withinvested withconsciouslyinteriorisedgắn với cultural values: smells that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others. Therefore, our sense of smell is a means of, and model for, attach tosensationinteracting withgrimacetương tác với the world. Different smells can provide us with intimate and emotionally charged experiences and the value that we olfactoryattach toodoursrecollectionsđính kèm, gán these experiences is interiorised by the members of society in a deeply personal way. Importantly, our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us froma rush of joyinvestigation intoessence ofphân biệt ai/cái gì other cultures. The study of the cultural history of smell is, therefore, in a very real sense, an interiorisedolfactorybondinginvestigation intosự điều tra/tìm hiểu sâu về… the essence of human culture.