Have you ever been walking somewhere or maybe standing in a store and suddenly a scent wafts in your direction? Out of the blue, you remember an event you had long ago forgotten.
Our sense of smell is powerful! Geez, just think of what the smell of coffee in the morning does for you. It's aroma is a powerful motivator for your feet hitting the floor, willing you to the kitchen.
Just your imagination? A new study doesn't think so. In fact, it says coffee's aroma sharpens the brain in some circumstances!
Students, Take Note: Coffee Might Help Your Math Scores
Researchers from the Stevens School of Business split 114 students into two groups to answer math questions from the Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT.
During the test, one group was exposed to coffee aroma during the test. The other was not. The coffee smelling group ended up with "signficantly higher" test scores.
What's more, just smelling the coffee seemed to boost the students' expectations on how well they would do. Placebo effect, you say?
Not so fast. According to lead reseracher Adriana Madzharov from the Stevens School of Business in New Jersey,
"It's not just that the coffee-like scent helped people perform better on analytical tasks, which was already interesting. But they also thought they (the students) would do better, and we demonstrated that this expectation was at least partly responsible for their improved performance."
In a follow-up survey of 208 individuals not involved with the first test, the Stevens School of Business found that a coffee scent was associated with feeling more energetic and alert as compared to the scent of flowers, or no scent at all.
Coffee Hype for Staunton Coffee Drinkers?
If you're reading this, morning brew in hand and hurrumphing, so be it.
But consider this.
Coffee's reputation as a stimulant AND its deep entrenchment in our culture is so powerful that simply smelling coffee can boost performance.
The good news is you don't have to take a math test to get those results.
Every day here at the Coffee Cave, we see bleary eyed Staunton customers stumbling towards the coffee counter, ordering up their favorite incarnation of the brew, hot or cold.
With the aroma of coffee in the air, you can see the anticipation on their faces. They leave walking a little straighter and with a definite purpose.
Placebo or not, how much is that worth for making your everyday performance a little better?
Visit Jake's Convenience and the Coffee on the web: www.jakescave.com to see all that we offer both local and out-of-town customers!