Olfactory memory // aromas that remind us of the past
Smell is one of the most important senses in humans, due to the thousands of functions it has in our body, not only helping us to differentiate good odors and unpleasant odors, but also those that put us in danger, making us develop that sense of such a way, that in many occasions he becomes the savior so as not to fall into unfortunate situations.
Since we were in the womb of our mother, the smell was developed in such a way that at birth we recognized our mother, since its smell made us feel safe giving us protection, because it was the first aroma we perceived as children.
Our sense of smell, in addition to perceiving and recognizing odors, sends information to the brain in order to relate scents with situations, people, feelings or places.
The childhood remembered by smells
Smell forms a large part of people's childhood, because when we are living new experiences that mark our lives, they are stored in the brain but related to odors, because the olfactory bulb that is in charge of collecting information from the odors, send those data to the limbic system so that it reacts at the moment of perceiving that aroma and so memories come back to our mind of the situation where the smell was appreciated.
We have all experienced situations where our nose smells and immediately comes memories of a person, place or situation, although it was shown by studies that events remembered by odors are not remembered exactly, that is, if they are situations lived with a person not the clothes that he used are remembered, that is based on the emotions felt at the moment of smelling that aroma. Because the part of the brain that stores them is characterized by being in charge of emotions, even so, many times the situation is also remembered by what happened at that moment or simply by what that person means and how was their behavior .
What is the part of the brain that is responsible for olfactory memory?
The amygdala of our brain, is responsible for processing the feelings, this reacts to the aroma so that when you smell the smell can connect them with an emotion, after this, this aroma is passed to the hippocampus that is in charge of memory In the long term, this is responsible for reacting to the aroma to associate it with a memory.
Olfactory memory not only relates aromas to events and feelings, but also makes them with unpleasant odors or smells that represent a danger for us, that is why when there is a food in poor condition we can detect it not to ingest it, you could say that This happens because the olfactory memory is programmed to alert us to situations of risk to our well-being.
This memory is in constant operation, keeping aromas that will be associated with memories that will come to our mind when we perceive that smell and that was saved by a special cause that marked our life.
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