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SITE: Sight, Scent & Sound: The Role of Senses in Retail Marketing

QUOTE: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

OLD CHINESE PROVERB: “When I hear, I forget. When I see, I remember. When I do, I understand.”

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MAIN SENSORY INPUTS
We express ourselves internally & externally from VAKOG forms of gathering knowledge & understanding:
1. Visual = SEEING 🌀 2. Auditory = HEARING
3a/b. Kinesthetic/Tactile = SENSING/TOUCHING
4. Olfactory = SMELLING 🌀 5. Gustatory = TASTING

Only the first 3 are widely used as major input channels for collecting data about our surroundings. 1, 2, 4 & 5 are obvious. #3a refers to whole body experiences involving sensations, emotions & motion itself. #b refers to learning by touch – such as the blind reading in Braille.

Summary of stimulus-to-response pathways

OTHER sensory sources (equally important sources of internal/external info) :
1. Chemo-receptors:  These trigger an area of the medulla which detect blood-born hormones & drugs. Also involved in the vomiting reflex

2. Equilibrio-ception: This helps to keep our balance & a sense of physical movements, such as acceleration, directional changes, & a sense of gravity.
It’s the Vestibular Labyrinthine system. located in the inner ear. When malfunctioning, we can’t tell up from down, so moving from place to place without help is nearly impossible

3. Hunger: This system allows the body to detect when we need to eat
4. Itch:  A distinct sensor system, part of other touch-related senses

5. Magneto-ception: This gives us the ability to detect magnetic fields, providing a sense of direction, based on Earth’s magnetic field. It’s not strong (like in birds), but experiments show that we do have some

The mechanism is not clear, but may have to do with deposits of ferric iron in our nose. It could be, since humans given magnetic implants have a much stronger magneto-ception than those without (MORE…. )

6. Noci-ception:  i.e Pain – once thought to simply come from overloading other senses such as Touch. Actually, it is its own unique sensory system.  with 3 types of pain receptors: cutaneous (skin), somatic (bones and joints) & visceral (body organs)
7. Pressure: Identifying shapes, softness, textures, vibrations….

8. Proprio-ception: Gives the ability to tell where our body parts are, relative to each other. Police test this when checking for a potential DUI driving drunk, by asking: “Close your eyes & touch your nose”.
This sense is used regularly in small ways, such as scratching an itch without having to see where the hand needs to go

9. Sound: Detecting vibrations along some medium in contact with the ear drum, such as air or water
10. Stretch Receptors: These are found in the lungs, bladder, stomach & the gastro-intestinal tract. One type, which senses dilation of blood vessels, is often involved in headaches
11. Tension Sensors: These are found in places like muscles, allowing the brain to monitor muscle tension
12. Thirst: This system allows the body to monitor its hydration level so the body knows when we need to drink

13. Thermo-ception: a specific brain system, plus a combo of senses, for monitoring internal body temperature. This includes the ability to notice heat & cold, using the 2 hot/cold receptors

14. Time:  This one is debated, since no single mechanism has been found that allows people to perceive time. However, experiments have definitely show that humans have a startlingly accurate sense of time, particularly when younger.

This seems to come from some combination of the cerebral cortex, cerebellum & basal ganglia.
— Long-term time-keeping seems to be monitored by the supra-chiasmatic nuclei, responsible for the circadian rhythm
— Short term time-keeping is handled by other cell systems

15. Touch: Rather than located in one or more specific areas, this sense is our whole body – made up of a very fine network of receptors in our skin, forming our largest sensory system. (More….)

HIDDEN Senses automatically, unconsciously help to:
• control bodily functions, such as temperature & bladder fullness
• control timing & movement of food through the body (digestion)
• measure the amount of sugar & salt in the blood
• regulate the amount of oxygen that’s taken in, for breathing…..

SYNESTHESIA – when 2 or more senses combine / overlap, such as seeing numbers in color, tasting words….
It’s hereditary, estimated to occurs in 1 out of 1000 individuals, in various forms & intensity.
(MORE…) // (Science of Synesthesia chart)

NEXT: Visual Learning (Part 2a)