How good are you at recognizing different odors? Do you think your performance would change if you tried it with your eyes open instead of blindfolded?
Sight is actually our most relied-upon sense, and we often use it to understand the world around us, form judgments, and make decisions. But how much are we really influenced by what we see?
Here’s a fun experiment you can try:
- Take three transparent bottles and put a different scent in each, like banana extract, vanilla, and mint.
- Then, color the liquid with an odorless dye that is completely opposite to the color usually associated with that scent. For example: banana → red, mint → purple.
- Now, have others try to identify the scent in each bottle. You can even give them a set of four choices, including some that match the color but not the actual smell.
This is a playful way to see how much our sense of sight can influence what we are smelling!
