Scent memory
Quote of the moment: "Yes, yes, Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have very sad death, but at least there is symmetry. Go, go, Zathras take care." -- Zathras, Babylon 5: "War Without End, part one"
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According to researchers, scent-triggered memories are not necessarily more accurate than memories triggered by other stimuli such as words or visual cues. But they do tend to be more emotional.
One writer always reacts negatively to the smell of lilies, as she associates them with the unpleasantness that occured in the lead-up to the death of her grandmother.
I'm familiar with the concept of scent association, particularly unpleasant ones. When Scandinavians smell the scent of pine, they think of forests and spas and fresh mountain air. When Australians smell pine in the air, they probably think of Pine-o-Cleen. As a result, the former group will be comfortable with purchasing and using a pine-scented shampoo. The idea of pine-scented hair to the latter group would go down like a lead balloon.
But what if you have a scent memory with no positive or negative association?
My strongest scent memory occurs when I detect the smell of newly wet greenery on the breeze. I am catapulted to a time when I was eight years old and had just alighted from a bus with my mum and my sister on a wet spring afternoon. Nothing special, nothing traumatic about that moment. But I remember that day. Even though the combination of scented plants can't possibly be the same here and now, as it was then and there.
But regardless, whenever I smell the same kind of scent, I remember...
--
According to researchers, scent-triggered memories are not necessarily more accurate than memories triggered by other stimuli such as words or visual cues. But they do tend to be more emotional.
One writer always reacts negatively to the smell of lilies, as she associates them with the unpleasantness that occured in the lead-up to the death of her grandmother.
I'm familiar with the concept of scent association, particularly unpleasant ones. When Scandinavians smell the scent of pine, they think of forests and spas and fresh mountain air. When Australians smell pine in the air, they probably think of Pine-o-Cleen. As a result, the former group will be comfortable with purchasing and using a pine-scented shampoo. The idea of pine-scented hair to the latter group would go down like a lead balloon.
But what if you have a scent memory with no positive or negative association?
My strongest scent memory occurs when I detect the smell of newly wet greenery on the breeze. I am catapulted to a time when I was eight years old and had just alighted from a bus with my mum and my sister on a wet spring afternoon. Nothing special, nothing traumatic about that moment. But I remember that day. Even though the combination of scented plants can't possibly be the same here and now, as it was then and there.
But regardless, whenever I smell the same kind of scent, I remember...