SUPERCHARGE YOUR SENSES

Our five senses affect our emotions in more subtle ways than you may think. Author of Sense Russell Jones explains how to experience the world differently…

Experience the world differently

Did you know that time feels as though it’s passing more quickly when you’re in a blue room with slow music playing? Or that food tastes 11% more delicious when eaten using heavy cutlery?

We might not ever think about it, but our senses and emotions overlap, affecting our experience of the world. Research from neuroscience, experimental psychology and behavioural psychology has uncovered the amazing extent to which our behaviour and perception are affected by what seem like arbitrary factors in our environment. Here, Russell Jones, multisensory expert and author of Sense, shares five of his favourite sensory facts to help you live life more fully...

TASTE

White wine tastes better with Blondie…and never listen to Debbie Harry when you’re drinking a Malbec. Research has shown that matching the emotional character of music with the character of the wine you’re drinking will enhance the taste by about 15%. So listen to upbeat, fresh and lively music with a bright and zesty white, and play some moody and dramatic music with a deep and robust red.

SIGHT

We’re more productive around the colour red. Warm colours – red being the warmest of all – have a physiologically stimulating effect, speeding up our heart rate and making us more alert and improving our focus and attention to detail. One study conducted by scientists in Vancouver showed that people made significantly fewer typing mistakes when in a red room – and made the most errors when in a white room. You don’t have to go the whole hog and paint your walls red, just have red items in your field of vision. That could mean using a red notepad or pen, or having red flowers on your desk.

SMELL

The smell of Play-doh makes you more creative. Having a burst of the evocative scent of this childhood favourite has been shown to help get creative juices flowing. Researcher Nahid Ibrahim calls this effect ‘mental time travelling’. The smell reminds us of our childhood play and brings back positive nostalgic memories – both of which switch your mind to a different state, and encourage ‘approach motivations’, when you feel more compelled to seek out new ideas and experiences.

TOUCH

Warm materials make people like you more. We associate physical warmth with emotional warmth; if you hand someone something that feels warm, then they will think of you as a warm person, instead of a cold person. As participants walked into a room to take part in a study led by John Bargh at Yale University, they were met at the door by a man who asked them to hold his drink while he tied his shoelace. Half the time it was a warm coffee and half the time it was an iced coffee. When asked afterwards ‘What did you think of the person you met outside the room?’ the participants overwhelmingly described him as being either warm or cold, in exact correspondence with the temperature of the drink they had held.

HEARING

Soundscapes improve the atmosphere. When you’re pottering around, think about a soundscape – the crashing of tropical waves, the sound of a summer park or the hubbub of a café – because sounds like these are emotionally evocative. For example, if you’re spending time at home, it will feel fresher with a backdrop of birdsong. And if you’re looking online for a beach holiday, you’ll find it more enjoyable with a beach soundscape playing.

Sense: Unlock Your Senses And Improve Your Life (Welbeck

Publishing) by Russell Jones is out now. Visit sensebook.co.uk