![]() Since we find most of the new smells during our childhood and youth, smells often evoke memories of childhood. However, we actually begin to make associations between smells, emotions and memories before we are even born.Ĭhildren who have been exposed to alcohol, tobacco smoke or garlic in the womb of their mothers often show a preference for these odors. For them, smells that can bother other babies seem normal or even pleasurable. The lilies, however, could make you inexplicably melancholic. This is, in part, the reason why not everyone prefers the same smells: by pure association. When you find yourself again with the smell, the bond is already formed and prepared to elicit a memory or even a state of mind. The smell of chlorine can make you feel happy because they remind you of summer moments in the pool with your friends. When you smell something for the first time, you link it unconsciously to an event, a person, an object, a moment or a place. Your brain forges a link between the smell and a memory, associating, for example, the smell of chlorine with summer or the smell of lilies with funerals. The olfactory bulb has access to the amygdala, which processes emotions, and to the hippocampus, the structure responsible for associative learning. Despite the connections between the structures, the scents would not evoke memories were it not for the conditioned responses that have formed over time. How is the association between smells and memories formed? Since the limbic system is an area closely associated with memory and emotions, smells can evoke memories and trigger strong responses almost immediately. The olfactory memory refers to memory of odors. Odors can bring us a lot of memories. This is because the olfactory bulb, which is a region of the central nervous system that processes sensory information from the nose, is part of the limbic system. Positive smells can also have negative effects. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |