Why scent often triggers memories and nostalgia

How many times have you caught a faint whiff of a scent that immediately reminded you of the ‘good old days’ or long forgotten events in your life? Have you ever noticed how certain smells or fragrances fill you with nostalgia and revive feelings you had sometime in the past?

When it comes to bringing back old memories, scent is the most powerful of all the senses. The intricate aspect of human brain structure explains why scent is so intimately related to memory and why, despite not playing a major role in our daily lives, it can often trigger a strong déjà vu like sensation whenever we are confronted with specific scents

Because of the very close location of the olfactory bulb to the limbic system, associated with memories and emotions, scent can instantly trigger distant memories and a sudden feeling of nostalgia.
Though the way in which the brain is hardwired makes the close relationship between scent and memory physically possible, the connection materializes at a higher, more abstract level, through conditioned response. New scents are learned through association to the situation in which they were first experienced and are therefore, automatically linked to those memories. This complex process accounts for people’s different reactions to scent and the human ability to recall past events when exposed to particular smells.
So for example, a particular fragrance can be associated with a certain person or period in one’s life. Similarly, other scents can become associated with feelings of happiness or sadness and being exposed to them again will awaken the emotions that were experienced in the past. This can also cause people to avoid and dislike certain scents, or quite the opposite, to seek them out and enjoy sensing them on a daily basis.

Because each person experiences different things in life, the association between scents and emotions/memories is unique to every individual; however, there are smells that have been identified as triggers of childhood memories in most people. The smell of bakery fresh out the oven or the elusive odor of nature reminds many of their carefree childhood, towards which they look retrospectively with feelings of nostalgia and joy. However, their perception of the past is often idealized and in fact, many negative details are left out of their recollections.
Similarly, in many subtle ways that sometimes go unnoticed, scent continues to be relevant to our daily lives, even in nowadays’ visually driven society. Our sense of scent can subconsciously influence our choices through its association with memories and emotions and, though its importance is frequently overseen, it has contributed to shaping our perceptions of the world and our psychological makeup.

Making Scents of the Holidays

Our experience of the holidays just wouldn't be the same without our noses-in fact it would be sadly bland, and I'm not just talking about food. The scents that emanate from certain dishes, certain plants, certain candles and a host of other specific holiday items are intimately tied to our emotions and our past.Imagine yourself in the following scene: You walk into the warmly lit parlor and before you turn the corner to see the ever-familiar parental living room, you inhale and wafts of fire-place smoke, pine needles, sugary cinnamon, and roasted turkey all mingle together in your nose. You feel heady and happy, like a child again, and with a blend of elation and nostalgia turn the corner to see the holiday scene unfold as you knew it would. But what if all you could do is see this scene without the feelings that the aromas brought with it? Your holiday homecomings would probably be strangely empty.
Why are scents so deeply connected to our emotions and nostalgia? The answer lies in the unique connection between the sense of smell, our brain and our biology. The chemical profile of an odor is first detected by neurons in your nose. The signals then travel to the brain where they are decoded by two blueberry sized structures-- the olfactory bulbs. From the olfactory bulbs, an odor's signature is sent to other parts of the brain. First and foremost to the limbic system, where associative-learning and our basic drives comes from and most importantly where our ability to experience emotion originates-- a structure in the limbic system called the amygdala. When the amygdala is activated we experience emotion, and when the amygdala has been damaged our ability to process and remember emotional information is lost. In my recent experiments on scent-evokedmemory using neuroimaging techniques, I found that when participants recalled a significant personal memory to the smell of a special perfume, the amygdala was much more activated than when they recalled the same memory to the sight of the perfume bottle. None of our other senses have this direct and intimate connection with the areas of the brain that process emotion, associative learning and memory.
In addition to the distinctive neuroanatomical connection between our sense of smell and emotion, there is evolutionary evidence that the perception of smell was linked with emotional experience early on. The structures of the limbic system evolved from tissue that was originally dedicated to odor processing. In other words, the ability to experience and express emotion grew directly out of the brain's ability to process smell. I have often wondered whether we would have emotions if we did not have a sense of smell; I smell therefore I feel?
The feelings that holiday scents evoke have special meaning to us because of our personal associations with them. There is nothing inherently pleasing or nostalgic about the fragrance of pine needles, cinnamon, or sugar cookies. It all has to do with our past personal connections to them. Holiday scents are typically culturally determined but your personal ones may have nothing to do with North American traditions, and they could also be unique to you. If you come from somewhere where a wintry festival of lights doesn't exist then the scents of your holiday could be hibiscus blossoms or curry powder. Moreover, holiday scents don't necessarily make you feel joyous. If you are someone with unhappy memories of Christmas past then the scents connected to this day are going to make you feel bad, not good.
Scents have a singularly potent ability to instantly transport our hearts and mind to times gone by, but only if you have a history with that scent, and a scent can only transport you to your personal past, not a Hallmark ideal. Hopefully there are some aromas connected to your holidays that bring a special smile to your face, and if you can't wait until Christmas, Chanukah or Kwanzaa to experience them, go and get that special scent treat now for your own personal rush down memory lane.
Rachel Herz is the author of The Scent of Desire and on the faculty at Brown University.

mind maps

After yesterday assignment i feel so relax! Finally its the end of the assignment! YAY!
i hate cheating my friends with rumors lol ><
but lucky this rumors didn't hurt anyone's feeling ;D
this assignment is fun ;D

Our roles:
Wendy : Leader, time keeper, power point. 
Khar wan : Design of poster, edit video.
Gina: The content on the poster, power point.

Rumors: DnA Foundation helping students to host showcase..
Knowlege gap: Able to let them experience how to showcase their work.
Agenda: Help support students with financial problem or do not have a venue to showcase their work.
Cultivation of shared public perceptions is to encourage people to have the desire of having their own showcase.

Our poster!
Content by: gina

this is a video on a person starting a rumours

How To Spread a Rumor

this is a video on how to spread a rumours and how to keep the rumours going