Why Do We Love, Pumpkin Spice, So Much?.
It's that time of year again.
It's pumpkin spice season.
Love it or hate it, it's hard to deny pumpkin spice is a staple of autumn in the United States.
A team of researchers has been studying the science behind the appeal of pumpkin spice.
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They have discovered that it's partly due to how we associate past experiences with smell.
Those associations, they form year after year, they also give us this sense of familiarity...it gives you a little feeling of nostalgia.
, Jason Fischer, professor, Johns Hopkins University, via NPR.
Pumpkin spice is so evocative that most people aren't aware that it actually contains zero pumpkins.
The aroma that envelops your senses is coming from spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
The aroma that envelops your senses is coming from spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
Researchers found that associations and labeling determines much of how we experience taste and smell.
You can take those same spices and you can put different labels on them and make the experience kind of different, because you're calling up different sets of associations as well, and, again, that's your brain kind of filling in the gaps.
, Jason Fischer, professor, Johns Hopkins University, via NPR.
You can take those same spices and you can put different labels on them and make the experience kind of different, because you're calling up different sets of associations as well, and, again, that's your brain kind of filling in the gaps.
, Jason Fischer, professor, Johns Hopkins University, via NPR
