Memories are made of emotion, old pictures, and postcards, but they are for sure made of fragrances. Life goes by at a frenetic pace and without a warning, a smell changes everything
You're collating through boxes and unexpectedly that distinctive beach fragrance takes you back to summer; you pass someone in the street and seem to recognize a past love in their perfume, or you try a homemade dish that takes you back to your childhood, It is important even before we are born since it is known that babies develop a bond with their mothers through smell. That is why during the first months of life, newborns identify moms through smell. Pure instinct.
All these connections result from olfactory memory, a quality that links smells with memories and emotions.
Although olfactory memory strives to be romanticized with positive emotion, it can also evoke distasteful sensations ,such as the smell of certain cleaning products or spoiled food , alert us to avoid them. early time we smell something, it is marked in our brain forever, so that every time we smell it again, it will take us back to that first time ,all the information we receive from other senses soon disappears from our memory, a smell remains for life .
When a smell is realized, olfactory neurons are triggered, generating an impulse that is transmitted directly to the brain. Unlike the other senses, where information must travel through more complex structures, smell has a direct connection to the brain.
The perception of a scent is processed in the olfactory bulb area, connecting it directly to the limbic system and the hippocampus, responsible for generating memories. In addition, this area also contains the hypothalamus and amygdala, which are the center of emotions and are responsible for fixing the memory
The Science Behind Olfactory Memory :
Olfactory memory is, therefore, an awesome album of memories, unique and non-transferable, a quality that links us to our most primitive, but also our most sensitive selves, due to this, we can choose one perfume out of a hundred because, in a seemingly inexplicable way, it awakens something in us when we smell it , This effect is not accidental, as scents are made to achieve it. With a great deal of creativity and sensitivity, perfumers make us travel through our sense of smell and emotions.
