We’ve all experienced the strange memory-jogging power of scents.
We’ve all experienced the strange memory-jogging power of scents. Perhaps the aroma of fresh pine brings you back to your childhood Christmases, or your heart starts to race when you step into a doctor’s office and the sharp odor of disinfectant fills your nose. Now, researchers from Boston University’s Center for Systems Neuroscience reveal just how much power scents have in triggering the memory of past experiences—and the potential for odor to be used as a tool to treat memory-related mood disorders.
“If odor could be used to elicit the rich recollection of a memory—even of a traumatic experience—we could take advantage of that [therapeutically],” says BU neuroscientist Steve Ramirez, a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of psychology and brain sciences and the senior author of a new paper describing his team’s findings in Learning and Memory.
Until now, the scent-memory connection has been something of an enigma. In fact, even the mechanisms that underlie memory formation in general have been debated in recent years. The traditional theory—systems consolidation theory—suggests that our memories start out being processed by a small, horseshoe-shaped brain area called the hippocampus, which infuses them with rich details. Over time, especially when we sleep, the set of brain cells that holds onto a particular memory reactivates and reorganizes. The memory then becomes processed by the front of the brain—the prefrontal cortex—instead of the hippocampus, and many of the details become lost in the shuffle.
Read more at Boston University
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