Why Do Scents Help Us Remember?

Created By RISC | 10 months ago

Last modified date : 10 months ago

Think about your strongest memories and you might notice how smells enhance our perception and memory.​

As we saw earlier (read at https://bit.ly/3RhepaN), scents can make us happy and relaxed. But our brains also recall best when we use the sense of smell.​

Why, since vision seems most central, does smell play this role?​

It's because our olfactory sense is inextricably tied to the brain. The olfactory bulb is at the front of the brain. It sends odor information directly to the limbic system, the region of the brain that helps with emotion, perception, and behavior. The signal then goes to the amygdala, which processes positive and negative emotions based on smell. We respond faster to olfactory sensations than other impressions.​

Smell is also associated with long-term memory. The olfactory experience transmits information to the hippocampus, which generates long-term memories. We interpret smells from our memories and evoke associated memories. Every time we detect a scent, memories linked with it are delivered to our brains, such as the smell of dirt when it's going to rain or the smell of the dinner your mother cooked when you returned home.​

Let’s look at the use of scent in various contexts.​

MQDC's real estate projects incorporate scents. The Aspen Tree at The Forestias, for example, has a Fragrant Forest area near the entrance to guide residents home. Olfactory sensations stay in the long-term memory even when we’ve forgotten scenery.

Perfumes can be made for specific events or to establish brand awareness. Developing a scent for a location, such as a hotel, shop, or department store, builds a memory that encourages people to visit and boosts well-being.​

As we can see, scent is used in a variety of circumstances because we remember better by smelling.​

Story by: Chirapa Horbanluekit, Communication Researcher, RISC ​

References:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/02/how-scent-emotion-and-memory-are-intertwined-and-exploited/​
Herz RS. The Role of Odor-Evoked Memory in Psychological and Physiological Health. Brain Sci. 2016 Jul 19;6(3):22. doi: 10.3390/brainsci6030022. PMID: 27447673; PMCID: PMC5039451.