i didnt get this article. i dont even smell bacon cuz im a vegetarian!!!

In what way does this article have anything to do with Bacon. Apart from the title, there is no mention. If I had written this article and turned it into one of my English Teachers from High School, they would have given it a bad grade for being off topic.

A better title for this post would be something along the lines of this: Sounds Affect the Taste of Food.

The senses are connected in ways that we do not fully comprehend. And it seems that the more you play with them, the easier it is to realize how ignorant we are about what our brain truly is doing behind the scenes. The results found in the study discussed in this post do not surprise me. They basically restate that input on one sense affects the perception or function of another sense. I have seen this before in a study called the McGurk Effect. It is actually spooky how our sense of vision can override what our ears are hearing and make us think we are hearing something else. Take vision away, and you hear reality (?). Many videos of this subject can be found on YouTube, and you too can experience the McGurk Effect here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFPtc8BVdJk

BACON!

DID I GET FIRST COMMENT???

Every ice cream truck has relatively high pitched music, which we associate with sweet food.

From new brain imaging we know that their is no area of the brain that is specifically set up to decipher or write the written word. Instead it is a combination of brain activity between the auditory processing and visual centers of the brain. Unsighted People using brail will have increased brain activity in the auditory and sensory processing areas of the brain.I wonder if it is a pavlovian reaction to music that you think is pleasuable. My son studies to loud metal playing and I don’t understand what he is learning.

I think, definitely, context is already an important part of language; like if you were just talking about, say, whether exotic animals should be kept as pets and then someone says “I think it would be cool if I had a Jaguar” you would assume they meant the animal, but if you had just seen a car commercial then heard the same sentence you would likely think of the car instead. In regards to other senses, I think the same thing applies: if you hear/see/touch/etc. something you associate with the jungle (say, heavy rain or bright colours) a Jaguar is a jungle cat but if the sense is related to cars a Jaguar is a car. Maybe.

This is interesting:

Research reveals why airplane food tastes so bad
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/research-reveals-why-airplane-food-tastes-so-bad/article1758464/

Mile high: Are you disappointed with airplane food for more reasons than its inflated price?

Apparently food tastes so terrible thousands of feet above the Earth’s surface not because it’s truly bad to begin with (though that may be true in some cases) but because of the environment. Researchers from Unilever Labs and the University of Manchester blindfolded study participants and had them sample meals in silence and then with loud white noise playing in the background.

It is interesting to know that such experiments are going on, but Ivan Pavlov’s experiment was to show that senses can be associated with other cues. I lost my sense of smell for a few years after I was treated with high energy radiation for burning my cancer cells in my oro-nasal cavity and sinus areas. Doctors had told me I’d never smell again, but my sense of smell is back to some extent, though not fully. I can smell certain things but not others. Still I am not sure of what I can and what I can’t. If a researcher wants to use me as a subject for his/her experiment, I can volunteer for that.

Small children seem to most often prefer sweet foods. Small children are also able to hear higher pitched sounds and frequencies than adults. The general consensus is that children’s taste is greatly influenced by what foods they are introduced to from a young age. Perhaps their taste experience is also being influenced by their hearing and sounds that are imperceptible to adults.

wat.

Music has an impact on our moods. Iam not surprised with this discovery that music can alter the experience of what we eat. I have found to enjoy my food more when soothing music plays, however sometimes the same food I enjoy when high pitched music plays. In instances I guess it is based on the mood Iam in. Point to agree is Music does alter the experience of eating in whichever mood you are in for good or for bad is a debatable point.

Yeah … the title makes no sense. This research is about one sense affecting another sense. Since when is determining the meaning of a word a sense? Why would one sense affecting another sense have anything to do with the smell of bacon (a sense) affecting the way we think about a word (not a sense)?

This world is madness!

April is right. This has absolutely nothing to do with bacon. You should not have called it that. By the way, Alice, that was really random.

I actually want to know if the smell of bacon can affect the meaningof a word.

I can see where you were trying to go with this and it was an interesting topic, but the article was a bit of a disappointment. You never did make the leap from the connection of sound and taste to the connection of smell and word definitions.

Thats cool. So, relying back to the first question, does the smell of bacon effect the meaning of a word. I say yes, but how it affects you and how much I affects you are subject to change. Let’s say, for instance, you hadn’t eaten anything all day and you we really hungry. If you smelled bacon you would probably be more ocused on that than what people said. Even if you aren’t hungry it can still be distracting because, let’s face it, bacon smells yummy ^^.
But other things can affect it as well. Imagine you’re in a very important meeting at a nice hotel, and as you are listening you smell baon being cooked in the kitchen below. You would probably just ignore the smell and continue ith your job. In an important meeting you probably wouldn’t want to risk losing your job over some bacon. But if you were with some friends you might not push it aside.
It’s all a precarious balance of stimuli. A complex code no one, not even among the smartest people in the world, has been able to decipher.

I like The Hunger Games. On on Catching Fire! That’s Book 2. It’s really good! Gale just got whipped, and so did Darius and Katniss. Gale was whipped 40 TIMES on the back! Darius and Katniss were both whipped on the face. Katniss was okay, but Darius wasn’t. Anyway, Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch brought Gale to Katniss’s house, because her mom’s a great healer. She started to repair Gale, when Katniss started to scream at her, and she was banished from the room. Peeta and Haymitch but her in her room upstairs, and they talked about the uprising in District 8, and how Katniss wants to run away. Then, the doorbell rang at 1AM, and that could only mean one thing…Peacekeepers! So Haymitch runs down to get the door. And guess what? I stopped reading there, because class at school was over! Have a nice day, everybody!

Dude… the title of this is so misleading. WHHERES THE BACON?

Wondering how a restaurant is supposed to play lower pitched music during the main course and higher pitched music during dessert … unless, of course, the place is closed for a private party end everyone is served the same course at the same time.

This reminded me of the icecream trucks that would go around my neighborhood. They would play high pitched jingles and songs. You automatically think sweets and want sweet. I can’t imagine the icecream trucks playing lower pitched music and I don’t think I have ever heard them do that. I wonder why.

Oh man your a vegetarian? You must make a big difference in the world.

W. T. H. O_o … Guess this is just an experiment how many people will read an article if they are led to believe it is about bacon…

I agree that the title was off-topic. I would have called this “Eat to the Beat”

Huhhh???? and No Name,

That’s weird, it showed me as the first person that had commented back when I commented. Weird! I want to know that too. But then again, it seems a bit far fetched. If we called Bacon, by another name, that wouldn’t change the delicious taste of it. We could call it Apple and it would still taste good. A name is just a name. It’s the quality of the actual item that counts.

what does this have to do with bacon

ewwwwwwwww bacon im a vegitarian ohh and pray aydan nyberg a boy with lukemia

Who would even smell bacon?? I think that no one would because it just Isn’t a food to smell

Who even smells bacon

bacon? cool… i wanna know i wanna know. seems intresting if it has to do with bacon!

s

It said the word bacon. Stupid site creators are SMART

Terrible title, totally off point! What was the writer thinking of??

Many people can’t read very well. What did bacon/words have to do with this article? The article spent the entire time telling of a study that further proves the niceties of synesthesia and the article clearly said, from here, how can we think of experiments that could prove the smell of bacon influences word meaning. It was made clear why this “random” task was proposed, because its a dictionary website and they would like to spin the synesthesia round to have a focus on words, to get you all thinking. Why bacon? Because its an article, and it needs readership, and there’s a great audience in this day and age for the word bacon nearly anywhere. I really don’t see what all the trouble was about?

How does bacon effecting the meaning of a word have anything to do with sound pitches changing the flavor of the food? The credibility of this article just went to 0 in my book, if you can’t even put a title that similarly relates to the article you are writing you need to retake intro to comp and learn how to increase your credibility as an author. Tricking someone into reading a post with a catchy title that is completely opposite from the content is not a way to catch and keep readers.

I have a slight case of graphemic synesthesia. Each letter of the alphabet has a definite colour to me which I won’t list here. I just didn’t know the name of it until I read the article. This totally makes sense to me. I can even associate a colour with the months of the year and the days of the week. Am I the only one who does this?
( I “see” music too….)

If this study was ever conducted, it has a fatal flaw. Have you ever eaten a dessert where the first few bites were nice, but the last few sickly sweet? Coupling one bite after the other with different music while trying to evaluate the perception of savory and sweet makes no sense. The second bite is not independent of the first. Perceiving greater sweetness (because toffee is made of sugar) may just be a property of the second bite. Now if the subjects were dogs and had eaten bacon, maybe the perception of sweet with higher pitch could be valid.

people i understand that the title of the topic is not very specific to the full content of the article but the point is this article has more to do with only one specific scent such as the scent of bacon and people i acknowledge that you are probably older than me but seriously some of u people posted the most ignorant,obnoxious, and unsatisfactory posts i have ever seen.

Everybody we all know that the title is very off topic from the rest of the article, but instead of everybody disguising that I would like to state that this article was very interesting. I especially think when they said about what music to play in a restaurant during the courses. Other then the title I think this article was very informing.

Sincerely,
Sam

I wish I ate meat to try on this theory also! Well to bad……

OMG… sometimes, I would choose to listen a very enjoyable sad song… and then my TOTAL mind would change. I’d probably wouldn’t want to eat… or want to eat… I am basically saying everything changes. I know this for a sad song… but it’s not always that way.

When I used to listen to a lot of Nirvana, including their saddening songs, I used to get power from them… somehow power is hidden within sadness. Sadness somewhat seems to be power on idle. Maybe people are confused when they are sad in which really they can use sadness by yielding into it full throttle. Think of it like closing your eyes tightly shut and squeaming like you’re becoming a super saijan (from Dragon Ball Z), and then you FEEL GREAT and can jump around!

I don’t know… It seems as though since we are milleniums of evolution, we basically have a layer in the brain for anything. I don’t know about secret societies holding secret knowledge like Kings and Queens or rich privileged people, but I think, like chemistry experiments, you can get VERY interesting reactions combining music with food.

Since people are so lithiumized and lazy from jobs and shit, we don’t get the opportunity to experiment, which makes it easy for me to speak about what I hate, rather than spending the time to talk about it.

Also, maybe I am on to something about sadness, cuz stay off of my shit if you are some kind of secret associate of I-CARE, but I used that surprise happiness soemone who is about to commit suicide has (like being happy when they normally are depressed because suicide became a bright idea) to help me become happier. Basically within my own depression, I allowed myself to fantasize on death… but kind of “clicked pause” on the mere feeling of happiness and let it simmer. After that, I started having crazy ideas like walking or riding my bike to the mall. It worked for me and I am happy now. So much for FUCKING…. people. Sure I may be a litte angry, but that’s probably because I am now 2 years into buying a bottle of Passion Rx full of 30 capsulres… so 30 capsules a year can FORCE you to learn to manage your stress or else. that’s how I feel about it. Some things you CAN blame, but other times, it’s pretty much on you for not taking care of yourself in the first place.

It’s almost kind of scary thinking of which food I like under certain music types. I mean as ancient knowledge may go: They can figure out an animal’s nature just because of the way their horns are shaped or which direction they point. That stuff is interesting, especially if true. Then like Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit “a mosquito; my libido!” in which he compares a human libido to mosquito is a very interesting comparison.

It’s just scary because what if some things we eat may be pleasant but may release a scent that is appeasing to certain bugs… SEE… we need bug experts to look into that. I used ot think scientists and what not ALREADY KNEW A TON, but sadly… it’s 2012 with STEWPID cell phones and some doctors act like abscission (thank you dictionary.com) is the only solution for some people’s problems. So SOME doctors don’t know, while a nutritionist does… Is that it? SO WHEN WE THINK OF which animals associate with which of our characteristics, there’s no discovered information, or we just need to visit a bug expert?

So disorganized…

Maybe this New World Order talk is actually the reason why people don’t know shit these days. Call me crazy, but that beautiful song in Aladdin “a whole new world” in which they sing it above a city… they already have, as though it’s not already a whole new world… you know?? WTF…

====================================================

The smell of bacon is rather an example smell of a meat with a general scent of musk. As in: like fish, it “smells ike fish” likewise body odor. Bacon is rather that, but without the body odor. So when you smell the flesh of pig skin, it activates your wild-like pig senses. You’d probably want to chew it, since you’re hungry and are accustomed with eating pigs.

I honestly think the smell of bacon just rather brings out your blind side where you want to chew and pounce and be a wild animal. So when you think “apple” with the smell of bacon, you just want to eat the bacon and run around, sow to speak.

This research has nothing to do with bacon. Furthermore, the methodology makes no sense. If every participant hears the same tone first we cannot say that it was the tone that had anything to do with the taste of the toffee. Tones would need to be counterbalanced. It may be the case that toffee is more savory on the first bite anyways and more sweet on the next, irrelevant of acoustic tone. This article is not very well established and my biggest concern is that I was excited to read about bacon!!

What they are stating in the title is: Can a smell (such as bacon) cause you to interpret a word differently, like sound with taste? Than the article goes on to describe the scientific studies behind sound affecting taste. Why are people so fixated on bacon? Lol.

Take care,

[...] what you read or hear? Let us know and share examples from your life, below. Read more at http://hotword.dictionary.com/crossmodalresearch/#lHlLOL5X6sh80412.99 [...]

They did this two hundred years ago with a dog, its food and a bell

Read the title for bacon. Found none.
Sensationalism much?

I am amazed to read the news. I have never had such experiences conscientiosly.. While watch movie we arre munch some thing. Tsound of the music varies according to scene. We do not find any difference in the taste of the food we are eating. I definitely did not feel any difference so far. After reading this I must try. Unfortunately I don’t see movies these days. But I can try while watching sports events in television.

Is it possible that the results were because of expectancy? What I mean is, the participants would have thought that the two pieces of toffee were different – in their mind, what would be the point in giving them the same piece twice?

the title of this article is very misleading!! it has nothing to do with bacon! and we all know the pavlov theory…!!

What did the article have to do with Bacon??? You guys did that once before … leading with something in the head and then never mentioning it in the article.

i did not read it 2 many words

So where’s the bacon? This article was about sounds, not smells.
Interesting but deceiving tagline.

To those of you who think the title is off topic, you weren’t paying attention. While the post does not mention bacon, the author mentioned several times that they were curious about what other ways senses work contextually. It is asking to extrapolate from the study if you think that it would be possible for sensory input to alter a word’s meaning, to give it a context that would mean one thing and not another…Pay attention and use a little thinking and you might learn something instead of jumping on an “oh, a mistake” bandwagon. It just makes you look foolish and weak minded…

This was really odd to me but it makes sense (and the helpful comments helped a lot too:-) ). I listen to music when I study and for some reason that just helps the information stick a little better. Not that I have tried this on purpose, but thinking about it I realize that the catchy, up beat songs did nothing for me besides want to sing along. If something a little calmer was played next, I was in the zone and really concentrated on what I was doing. Just a thought

I agree with Jane.

Oh, come on, you don’t have to read this blog too often to realize that the headline almost never has anything to do with what the blog is actually about.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm *says dreamily* baaaaconnnnnnn!!!…..now i can smell it! why can i smell it?!?!?!……weird…..O.o

Do you title this bacon just so people would click on it? Bacon is a really hot topic right now. Even Burger King is in on it. Bacon Sundae : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/burger-king-bacon-sundae_n_1414601.html?ref=food&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008.

bacon smells good

This phenomenon might be tied to Pavlov’s dogs. Who loves candy and sweets more than children? The vast majority of candy sold is consumed by younger children while adults tend to enjoy more savory foods. Taking that into consideration, take a listen to some children’s music and compare it to the various popular types of music. The songs that are geared towards kids tend to be much higher pitched than those that are listened to by adults.

This article was interesting, but beacon had nothing to do with it, You should choose titles that fit the article better.

He says, “I love you” (paired with the smell of cooking broccoli)
I say, “Whatever.”

He says, “I love you” (paired with the smell of cooking bacon)
I say, “Let’s have sex. After we eat the bacon.”

I’ve noticed that while eating lunch at school and having a song stuck in my head, my lunch tastes different. As an example I had Volitile Times (I forget the artist) trapped in my head while I ate chilly. It tasted more bland that ussual
Weird study
andd along with this, the others are right, you do pick weird titles fur some things, maybe a better title s in order such as Delectable (Spelling?) Sounds or Music fur the starving

My first question is whether the change in taste of toffee would be the same without the change in music. Often the first bite of food can taste different than the second or third.

For the study to be truly valid, the researches would have had to do at least two trials-one with candy but no music, then candy with music.

BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is good

i love BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think you like bacon Alex

i agree this is off topic alot.

I will automacticly think that police is around.

Come on people, the title is meant to bring in readers because everyone, except that vegetarian likes bacon.

In fact, the title itself might be an example of the argument in the article! Bacon brings to mind cheerful breakfast settings, sunny mornings, and just a blast of ungodly pork flavor. The epitome of unhealthy food that titilates our taste buds. So, already having all of these associations with bacon, our eyes see the word, and our mind goes wild. We perceive goodness coming our way, so we reflexively click on the link. We all know that bacon will not suddenly pop out of the monitor when we click on the link, its pure reflex to good experiences. What might have been a boring article to some is now extremely very appealing. “News article” becomes “breakfast dish”.

And maybe it was completely random. Enjoyed the article though!

Is it possible that this was a sneaky way of determining if the word “Bacon” in the title would attract more readers?

What does this research about the sounds affect our tasting have to do with the title “Does the smell of bacon affect the meaning of a word?”? This article does NOT even mention anything or explain how bacon affects the meaning of a word. WRONG TITLE was given.

Yeah, like when somebody plays Bach bread tastes sweet.

When someone plays Bach bread tastes sweet

oops i said the same thing twice!

FIRST!

I’m a vegatarian so I like hate the smell of bacon!

Yo Joe we get it, we don’t need any more fucking essays. It’s vacation, forget about the fucking essays and have some fun bro. Come on bro!

Interesting article…that has nothing to do with bacon. Disappointing.
Dictionary.com, I’m ashamed of your writer’s skills. You can do better.
Nevertheless, I do find the subject quite fascinating.

When I read a sad (or exciting, intense, happy) part in a book and play sad (or exciting, intense, happy) music I can visualize the scene clearer. Imagine watching an action or horror movie. Will the experience change without music? Maybe it will be less scary or exciting, vice versa.

Manish?! I know a Manish……it’s not really a popular name.

ok, so i agree that the title is to get attention, but how the heck are they related to the topic? readers get disappointed with bad articles, not to mention bad titles, though…

Rad

bacon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Lou Nattick:
I totally do that too!! I know of at least one (if not several) people who do that, so I’m guessing that it’s not uncommon. I’m sure there’s been plenty of scientific research on the topic.
I also do it with numbers–I have a little number line in my head that starts with zero at the bottom (well, depending on whether or not I’m thinking about negative numbers at the time, it might go farther and farther downward in negative numbers) and proceeds infinitely upward. It has a specific look, as though it’s written on a piece of paper, and sometimes I picture certain numbers in certain colors.

12555555555556555555555555555555555555poooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooppppppppppppppppppppokpop

123

Trichinosis. Scavenger animal. Whatever they eat you eat.

confused????? :/ why are you guyz talking bacon

k that doesn’t make sense what I wrote

Mmmmmmmmmmm. Baconnnn

this is just plain random

THAT IS REALLY CCCCCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow who posts at like 3 in the morning i bet your single no offense.
ps for all you vegetarians out there idk how you would do no meat im from texas and thats all we eat

whoa whoa!!! i never thought dat smell of beacon affect our brain…. “what a thought”

I think I fell into their little experiment cause as soon as I saw the word ‘bacon’ I clicked the link, lolol

It has absolutely nothing to do with bacon, what’s the smell of bacon got to do with the word? that’s crazy…

After reading all the comments here, i end up laughing so hard about what Joe had said, his point of view was funny but he may be right. After what I said above, I recalled when I was at the restaurant dining while listenin to jazz songs that was bein played, I knew then that I started to love eating, but I don’t somewhat agree with the fact that the smell affects the taste, nah i don’t think so. As for me, I would love to dine at the resto that plays soft jazz music, coz i love to listen to it and it’s the music itself makes me calm and relax,its soothing so one would really love to stay and listen for awhile, I also experienced being at the restaurant that plays rock, i felt like I don’t wanna stay and eat anymore coz it was freakin noisy, so who would want to stay?, well, I’m not a rocker though.. As for me, A smell doesnt affect the auditory processing, nor our tastebuds nor vice versa, and eventhough it has its own explaination, I still don’t agree with it because I just never experienced it, like having to hear a soft or loud music and suddenly have my tastebuds change into sumthin sweeter or whatever… I think it’s just got to do with mentality

what this article is to do with its title??
the title has no relationship with the text written below it…!
i thought that i was gonna read something interesting……but its no use!
at least……you people should share article according to the title..!

I wonder if bacon affects the meaning of the phrase MISLEADING HEADLINE.

I have never experienced music interfering with my taste, but I haven’t thought about it. The only things that distract me when I’m reading are music and telly, because I can’t focus on them both at the same time.

The title of this article is more interesting than the article itself. I was thinking it was a study that showed eating bacon would make reading the Twilight saga feel less like stabbing my eye with a fork.

bacon is so GROSS!! all meat is

hey dylan

it smells good

hey

The word BACON was enough to keep us reading.. it definitely affects our taste buds too

My mother took her lunch to work. She really enjoy braunswager. A soft
brown sandwich ‘meat’. Inexpensive. As she took a bit of the sandwich
she saw a small brown mouse run across the cafertiera floor. To this
day she can’t eat that sandwich meat!

Oui, contextually irrelevant universal generalization. Fat Duck? arf.

everyone should learn sign language so that they order at a restaurant and listen to the differently pitched music as they eat. Could be cool.

I taste dark chocolate with lower music and energetic music makes me taste sweet cupcakes.

I LOVE BACON <3

Danielle, dictionary.com says that they wrote it at a random time, like when I submit this message it would say something different than what the actual time is. So these people probably wrote their messages at 5pm but it said they wrote it at 2am.
But, they could be single…….jk

vegetarians do have options probably i have some friends who r indian vegetarian they have plenty of options

Vanessa C and Hello and No Name…….you guys rock! (and any other vegetarians on the comments) I’m a vegetarian, too!
Hello, i also hate the smell.
Vanessa C, i wish i could try, too, but i can’t stand the smell!!!!
No Name, it’s a good thing you can’t smell it because you probably won’t like the smell, maybe non-veg people do….

Alice, no you did not get first comment, No Name did!!!! Vegetarians rock!
jk, even though they do rock

SO much for catchy words to get an audience…typical tabloid headline, and well used, but no Smithonian at all. The relation of music to toffee is about hearing to sensation; bacon to word is not. Who do they think we are…that journalism student to constructed the headline needs to eat more bacon…

Where is the bacon???????????????

… i don’t get this…

Similar studies already cited in medical text book decades ago… The most discussed issue is pain. With the same stimulus strength, the same candidate will have different comment or grating in different time and/or different music background. It is believed the interpretation is “modified” by our mood at the time of stimulating..

All sensory input affects perception of all inputs–including memory recall.

There is a hierarchy which seems innate…the most primitive senses have priority.

Smell/taste is very primitive–it saves the possessor from toxins, helps find food, identifies relatives, etc.

Light sensitivity is also basic, alerts to potential threats, controls daily & seasonal activity cycles, helps identify potential mates, discriminates between individuals, etc.

Since none of the inputs can be turned off, your mind, starting with the most ancient reflexes, prioritizes them regularly–minimum the 3 minute ‘now’ cycle. Combinations are remembered to identify situations & such.

For an event to be memorable, there are several factors:

Adrenaline fixes memory long term.Other sensations are part of the memory, since any one or more could be vital to recognizing the adrenaline producing event.

Repetition, creates memories–but is subject to interval length.

Events occurring 4/5 of ‘3 minute now’s will be learned faster than things at wider separation (anything that happens 4x in 15 minutes will be remembered better than repetitions at 1 minute, 2 minute or >3 minute intervals.

Timing can embed memory…if you eat at the same time daily (pr any other activity,) your body will prepare itself at that time for that function…saves time, Just as eating the same kinds of foods, preconditions your digestive system to process that food.

This article and the following comments made me wonder why our resturants pay no attention to acoustics when designing their dining areas? This is especially important as we age and our ability to hear becomes compromised. I know I can’t wait to leave let alone savor what is on the menu when in a very noisey resturaunt.
I’ve been told that it’s by design so they can flip tables every 20 minutes and maximize profits. Maybe, but I will pay more to eat and enjoy than eat and run.

@me8
I think you probably have the ability to learn very long strings of numbers just by ascribing a certain image to the order of the numbers or colours or in my case I see my account numbers as having a personality so I never forget them. I totally understand your number line thing. But I bet you are good at both math and memorizing numbers…..

So if you overheard a part of a conversation that went, “Yeah, he’s right” you might think that someone was just affirmed as being correct. However, if you had just been subjected to part of a Fox “News” segment then you may be inclined to think that a person was just affirmed to be a political conservative. Correct or Conservative. HUGE difference!

Cool article! I think they(dictionary.com) means that we should think about the question/ title, to all you confused people.

And I do associate sweet with high music! They sort of go together.

Coopa:
I haven’t read the second book of the hunger games. Try not to ruin it for the people who haven’t read it. And what does that have to do with this article?????

thanx dylan

So does this mean that someone with tinnitus would taste everything sweeter?

The title is COMPLETELY unrelated to the article!!!

Actually bacon has one of the strongest smells.

The fact that most of you did not comprehend why the word bacon was used and also how it was said that “the headline was misleading” is sad. I imagine how much lower your level of comprehension would be if you would not visit this website.

You all are missing the point. Re-read the first paragraph: “A new study is so fascinating that we immediately wondered how it would apply to words. You, of course, are our greatest resource for insight. After you read about the experiment, help us think about how word meanings change depending on what else is going on around you.”

Here’s their query: if sound can affect the way something tastes, can senses like smell affect word meanings?

I love dummies who point to another as the source of stupidity.

I’m sure there are as many clueless people as there are sarcastic…but just to clarify; They used bacon as a damn example since it is a very popular food.

It’s a new frontier for science.

Totally agree with all of you about the topic being misleading – wth seriously…lol I liked Sheesh’s response most of all with the world is madness! lol

Oh this is a very vexed question to be asked for a naive person like me but i have my own share of repressed words within my puzzled mind…..
…..everything we do in everyday lives are seemingly conditioned to the past experiences and incidents..am i right? say, you had drank a very crude hard liquor on last Sunday, and you had terrible time when you reached your bedroom, frequently visiting bathroom to take-off this hellish drinks. and coincidentally on next Sunday your close friend asked you to have some shots of the same horrible liquor you had last Sunday. will you drink it??? sure if you are an addict but not true for the beginners. right?
so the experiences of the past days play crucial role in the functioning of your mind on the particular matters or events or situation. this is just the same but different interpretation of the much revered work of the eminent Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. say while eating a very delicious meal or reading a very captivating and entertaining story or news, somebody in your room hit the rock and hard, ear-piercing music, will you like to continue with the eating or reading??? I don’t think so! it gives you the bad impressions or evoke you the resentments that may lasts for a day or an hour. again after many days you had heard this same frustrating music while engaging in some activities or just leisurely taking a rest, what will be your reactions? complacent or same as the earlier incidents, because it had really spoiled your day. is it right?
so in a nutshell if a resound my words , the conditioning is the main tenet that influence your sensory perceptions.
every is to do with the mind and its judgement- whether rationale or instrumental
account. this is also proved firmly by the broad Asian Buddhism teaching of meditation and mindfulness. if you, reader(s), want to know more explore on this topic- meditation. well sorry i went too far!

Something is missing from this article. Something that goes after bacon…or….I might be wrong.

Oh, oh, I think I got it. When you think about the smell of bacon, you can’t understand words, because the brain become like a bacon. (see the picture). That’s why this article make no sense to me.

[...] for the past few weeks. So much so that, Dictionary.com titled one of its blog articles “Does the smell of bacon affect the meaning of a word?” when the subject had nothing to do with [...]

thats nice to know i love you and always will lol

I didn’t even read the article i just saw “Bacon” and knew I should comment. XD

uh, mary torres !so chula!
who are u talking to?

@yo everyone

i don’t know about toffee and high pitched music but i cannot enjoy my dessert if there is a screeching sound..or for that matter i just cannot bear to eat if i smell anything that is ‘unedible’ around me or if the food has a soapy flavour.or if i smell detergent around…yuck i could throw up,just thinking about it!

I think like for example if you listen to rock music and eat chicken you would probably be in a partying mood and think it meaty. I think music influences your mood which influences how you taste things.

werid topic very werid topic

First comment

BACON……..!

Two or three decades ago I came up with almost a “spectrum” of tastes for different kind of meats. I use two different scales of words to describe them. In the following list, the meats area listed from “dark” to “light” or from “bass” (low frequency) to “treble” (high frequency):

yak
beef
pork
duck
turkey
chicken
herring & mackerel
tuna
sole & trout & bass

Now, I’ve listed these for a few friends over the years. I always start out by explaining that there’s something really weird about this but I think of it this way, and after I give the list, my friends always seem to see some sense in that order. I’ve learned that it’s not just me feeling this; I just happened to notice it.

This could probably be expanded to include fruits & vegetables, drinks, and other comestibles. For example, coffee is darker than tea, which is darker than orange juice.

–H

It’s an interesting idea. It would be really neat if resturants enclosed each table of people, so that low music could play when those were eating, and higher music when the table next to them, even at the same time was eating. It might improve the taste. It’s definitely something to consider. Or at least I would consider it if I was in that business.

wow I just read the comment at the top at how he/she commented on the title of the article including the word bacon in which in fact it didn’t and after I read the article it occurs to me that they only put the word ‘bacon’ in the title to make us seem more interested and click on the article if some of you know what I mean.