Capable Of Recalling Memories, Here Are 5 Facts About Scent

Illustration of inhaling lavender flowers (Unsplash / Elly Johnson)

JAKARTA - Both the smell of perfume and the smell of food can evoke memories. A number of scientific studies have found that smells have a link with memory. The aroma can recall memories that reside in the memory of the brain.

The effect of recalling memory by fragrance is timeless

The awakening of memory due to inhaling a certain aroma is timeless. The sense of smell is closely related to the limbic system of the brain. This is what causes the effect of memories to be present because of aroma.

The effects are timeless, except for people with Alzheimer's. For Alzheimer's sufferers, each scent can be new and cannot recall memories because the anterior olfactory nucleus pathway is cut off with the hippocampus.

What memories can be recalled?

Everyone certainly has a lot of memories. The memories called by smell are meaningful memories. It can also be a memory of an event, a certain time, a special place, a person, or food.

Detailed information integrated with the anterior olfactory nucleus

Experiencing an event certainly captures information about the place, time, surrounding situation, and the subject. This information is integrated with the sense of smell, particularly the anterior olfactory nucleus.

According to Afif Aqrabawi, a neuroscientist from the University of Toronto, the integrated relationship has the effect of recalling memories.

The aroma is very well known by people with excess body weight

The complexity of the memory in the brain with the sense of smell is so complex that it can be identified based on the character of the smell. If a person chooses a distinctive perfume, it is scientifically explained through the integration of aroma and memory.

Illustration of the aroma of chocolate (Unsplash / Olivia Anne Snyder)

For the smell of food, it is very easy to be caught by people with excess body weight. Obese people are very sensitive to their sense of smell to food, this is evidenced by Lorenzo D. Stafford and Ashleigh Whittle from the Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, UK.

The 2015 research publication of Stafford et al. published. The results of the study of two groups of overweight and normal students found that the ability of the obese students to sense of smell was better at detecting the aroma of chocolate.

Another result found how much effect the pleasure felt after inhaling the aroma of chocolate. The overweight group had higher pleasure levels after smelling chocolate.

Aroma helps improve memory skills

In the book The Scent of Desire, Rachel Herz explains everything about the relationship between smell and memory. Reporting from Psychology Today, Thursday, March 11, Herz explained that inhaling scents can help improve memory abilities.

Illustration of book and source of aroma (Unsplash / Angélica Echeverry)

This means that scent can help memory absorb information and become more focused. Besides relating to memories, smell also affects mood. For example, inhaling the scent of lavender can make you feel calmer and more relaxed.

In other cases, you can choose a perfume scent according to a character. You can also choose certain scented perfumes to increase self-confidence.