Memory and your sense of smell
February 1st 2009 01:49
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Our sense of smell is connected really well to our memory. For instance, have you ever been reminded of an experience when smelling a fresh cake from the oven, I remember being greeted by that smell on my return from hospital with my third new born child and one trigger leads to another which reminds me a lot of experiences with children, long ago, when they were all very young.
A favorite perfume or the smell of lavendar may also trigger your memory.
Humans have seven primary odors that help them determine objects. Listed below are the seven odors.
Camphoric Mothballs
Musky Perfume/Aftershave
Roses Floral
Pepperminty Mint Gum
Etheral Dry Cleaning Fluid
Pungent Vinegar
Putrid Rotten Eggs
It's the hydrogen sulfide produced by the rotten eggs that make them smell so bad
As you get older, your sense of smell gets worse. Children are more likely to have better senses of smell than their parents or grandparents.
People who cannot smell have a condition called Anosmia.
Dogs have 1 million smell cells per nostril and their smell cells are 100 times larger than humans!
I personally believe dogs remember the smell of people and that way remember friend from foe.
My friends' dogs and cats seem to remember me that way even when I have not seen them for a very long time and even through closed doors.
I guess you're wondering at the connection with smells and memory.
This first picture here simply shows the location of the olfactory bulb and how smells end up there.
This one shows the proximity of the sense of smell to the limbic system.
You'll remember my post on the limbic system connecting the hippocampus with memory.
Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area of memory and feeling which is commonly known as the "emotional brain' smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously.
I particularly like the image below as it has a yellow arrow relating the two areas, and also shows smell entering the nose to give you a good idea of what is happening when you smell something.
Smells consist of molecules and it is these molecules that connect with the olfactory nerve and convey the message of what you smell to the brain via the same pathway as the formation of memories and this is why there is such a strong connection between smell and memory.
It is your brain that forms the link between smell and memory not just merely the smell itself.
The yellow nerve (not its actual colour) there marked CN1 is the olfactory nerve viewed from above the brain looking down into a section as I thought you might like to know just what it looks like.
I hope this post has given you more of an idea how smell and memory are linked.
Incidentally I have always had a good sense of smell and a good memory.
Perhaps if we could find a way of improving the sense of smell of people they would at the same time improve their memory.
Your comments are invited.
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Comment by AmyHuang
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Yes, I do realise that sometimes if I can smell something I'll remember better. Unfortunately this doesnt really help with studying out of a book ... hmm
Comment by katyzzz
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Just try it and let me know, Thanks Amy, nice to see you in your busy schedule.
Comment by Lester Caudill
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Comment by Wilson Pon
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Let's take an example, some people said that Durian smells like sh*t while other said it smell good like perfume...
Comment by katyzzz
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