Have you ever wondered why people struggle to find their “signature scent”? Is it for them or for the ones around them? And how brands like Jean-Paul Gaultier or Carolina Herrera have such success in the field of perfumery? Or what do people mean when they tell each other “You smell like home”?
Well, the truth is, all these answers can be found behind what is called “scent memory”, the connection the human brain forms with the olfactory system and the reason we feel triggered even when sensing a trace of a familiar scent.
So let’s embark together on this beautiful journey where I try to give you an insight of what the psychology behind scent represents and how it affects our lives.
To understand how scent memory works, one first needs to understand how the olfactory system works, and how our brains perceive the sense of smell.
To put it simply, when we sniff a certain smell or aroma, its odor molecules reach the top of our nose, the olfactory cleft, and then dissolve in the olfactory epithelium, a layer of mucus membrane. From there, they are further carried by special proteins, ultimately reaching the receptor cells that generate an impulse, or a signal, that ends up in the part of our brain that is called the limbic system, located in the higher brain cortex.
The interesting part here is that the limbic system is also responsible with human primal functions including long-term memory, emotion, behavior and motivation. It is even referred to as the emotional nervous system, as it puts together primitive emotions AND more elevated mental functions!!
So does that mean the information regarding what we smell is stored in the exact same place where we keep both our fight or flight instinct AND our childhood memories?? (kind hint: the answer is YES.)
Without even realizing it, we experience this everyday, but it is actually a process so complicated that only in 2004 researchers Richard Axel and Linda Buck managed to decode it. Even though we’ve come to understand the path that scent follows to reach our brain as recently as two decades ago, our bodies have always found this process so natural.
And while experimenting with scent is a personal journey, it is also what stands at the core of the perfume industry: based on consumer feedback and expectation, certain scents and aromas are combined to achieve a final product that appeals to the customer. As shocking as it may seem, detergent perfumery also makes use of how we perceive smell. Ever wondered why Tide has been the best-selling detergent in the USA for such a long time? Well one of the reasons is that it combines the smell of citrus, that strongly correlates to cleanliness, of fruity scents, that increase feeling of comfort, and floral scents, that evoke maternal love and care.
Were we being manipulated by perfumers this whole time, then? Kind of. But I still think that experiencing scent is beautiful, authentic, intimate. The smell of freshly baked cookies. The perfume our mom has been using when going out since we were kids. The smell of snow. Or of the old dusty books from the highschool library. The natural body scent of that certain someone that makes us hug them tighter every time we see them and never let go. We perceive it differently, but scent surrounds each and every one of us.
Don’t you think it’s beautiful? This ability we have to find and relive our long-lost memories through a whiff?
Bibliography
psychology and smell, https://www.fifthsense.org.uk/psychology-and-smell/
how smell works, https://www.fifthsense.org.uk/how-smell-works/
the power of scent memory and why it&s important, https://homesick.com/blogs/news/power-of-scent-memory
why do smells trigger memories?, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-smells-trigger-memories1/
making sense of the fifth sense: what we know about smell, https://ecrcommunity.plos.org/2015/12/01/making-sense-of-the-fifth-sense-what-we-know-about-smell/#:~:text=Smell%20is%20the%20fifth%20sense,time%20lose%20their%20appetites%20somehow.
olfactory cortex, https://www.physio-pedia.com/Olfactory_Cortex#:~:text=Systems%20Summarising%20•-,Introduction,forebrain%2C%20composed%20of%20several%20areas.
limbic system, https://www.physio-pedia.com/Limbic_System
TedxRVA Why is smell more important than you think, https://youtu.be/ns_3My8xoJg?si=1tLkXTc5nJNyF48d
drawing by me
Well done!
Well written! Congratulations!