Unlocking the Secrets of your Sense of Smell: Part 6

The Smell Factor and Our Memory

Our sense of smell is directly linked to the area of our brains that controls our memories. The slightest hint of an odour can transport us thousands of miles to some of our earliest memories—even to those we were not aware that we had.

With our sense of smell, every odor when broken down to its smallest component is a chemical formula. Chemicals formulas are molecules in specific configurations. When we smell, a chemical formula rises in the nose and lands on thousands of smell receptors which identifies the molecules and forwards the information to the brain.

That our sense of smell is most closely related to our memory is no surprise given its location.
Olfactory receptors are located next to the limbic system which, according to anthropologists, is the most primitive part of the human brain and where our emotions reside. It is the site that controls or modifies our emotional and sexual responses, our hunger and thirst responses, and our anxiety and fear responses.

It also controls our artistic abilities, our perception of space as well as regulating our body temperature, and our ability to think. It receives and stores information from all of our senses. Essentially, it’s our master control.

When we inhale a scent, the sensation of its odour is first relayed to our cerebral cortex, where cognitive recognition occurs. However, before we are able to recognize the scent, the deepest part of our brain becomes stimulated. Thus, by the time we are able to recognize the pine scent of a Christmas tree, its scent has already activated our limbic system and we are transported back to our childhood memory of decorating Christmas trees from our past.

In this same way, when we smell the gingerbread scent from a votive candle, we instantly think of our grandmother’s kitchen, or making cookies with her when we were children. It isn’t surprising, then, that studies conducted by Dr. Rachel Hertz suggest that our memories which are triggered by our sense of smell are more emotional than our memories triggered by our other senses.

In one study subjects were given visual (an object), verbal (the name of an object) or olfactory (the scent of an object) stimuli and asked to write down their responses to them.

While responses to visual and verbal stimuli tended to be longer, those to olfactory stimuli tended to be memory-based.

Some of the fragrances that help to increase memory include sweet basil, peppermint, rosemary and thyme.

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