Odor induced memories

[lihpster]

I just got a package from Amazon. T-shirts, a hoodie and a light jacket. I was trying the jacket and sweatshirt for size and got that smell from brand new clothing. Don't know what it is and I can't describe it, but it's definitely there. When it hit me I was suddenly 10 years old again. It would be early August and the package of school clothes had arrived from Sears or Wards or Pennys and it was time for the fashion show. My mom would make me put on every piece of clothing to test for fit, so she could either exchange them or alter them herself before the first day of school. Then they would all be folded back up and taken away to god knows where, to reappear on Labor day. The smell of new clothes was all around me. I thought I looked sharp and wanted to wear my new clothes, but if I had, I would have started school looking like I slept on the playground. Huh. Funny what hits you years later.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The olfactory system is a wondrous thing. We can label, categorize and pigeon hole scents from decades ago and our memory still knows what they smell like.

Few things trigger old or suppressed memories like aroma.

Astounding piece of work is the Limbic System.

 

[Onomea]

Every time I would put on hand sanitizer during the early days of the pandemic I would take a deep whiff and exclaim, "Ahhhh. Martini!"

 

[CH4]

Every time I would put on hand sanitizer during the early days of the pandemic I would take a deep whiff and exclaim, "Ahhhh. Martini!"

For me it was Margarita

 

[delcrossv]

Every time I get a whiff of skunk, I'm immediately brought back to a memory of washing the previous dog with vinegar and baking soda.

140 lbs of skunk killing terror, that one was. He Just Didn't Care.

 

[CH4]

Every time I would put on hand sanitizer during the early days of the pandemic I would take a deep whiff and exclaim, "Ahhhh. Martini!"

The stuff I got smelled like tequila. So
for me, it was margaritas.

Frequently walking the streets and back alleys of many Asian countries, the sweet smell of five spice always makes me smile; let's me know where I am.

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

Back in the day when stores had wood floors, like JC Pennys, Woolworths, the smell was very distinctive. K-Marts were the same way, only different, and they all smelled the same.

Just got a dog bed for our dog from Amazon...the tag said Made in China and it got put outside in the sun for a couple of days to get the smell out.

Then there was my first girl friend Marlene.....but that's another story...

 

[fiasconva]

The smell of a new leather product immediately takes me back to when I was about 6 or 7 and would get a gun and holster cap gun set for Christmas.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[Bro. Dave]

Yes, it's the smell of brand new, unwashed denim that evokes powerful memories of the first day of school! The aroma of a freshly sharpened No. 2 pencil can do it, too.

 

[CH4]

There are couple stores in the small town I grew up that still have same pleasant smell they did 50+ years ago, even after changing ownership numerous times.

 

[Bib]

For me it's the smell of burning coal. In elementary school we walked to school....twice every day. We walked home for lunch, then back to school. Back then (early 60s) there were still a few homes in the neighborhood that still had coal furnaces. When I turned the bend to walk up our little valley the smell would hit me.

 

[oldbrownhat]

The olfactory system is a wondrous thing. We can label, categorize and pigeon hole scents from decades ago and our memory still knows what they smell like.

Few things trigger old or suppressed memories like aroma.

Astounding piece of work is the Limbic System.

Here's Why Smells Trigger Such Vivid Memories

"...The Ol' Memory Factory **

In November 2017, scientists discovered something even wilder about the processes that make odor-linked memories so vivid: The memories may be saved in a part of the olfactory bulb itself. The part responsible is a complex structure called the piriform cortex..."
​

**A clever bit of word play!

 

[SmithNut]

Ahhh, ain't that the truth...
I've posted this before, when I first started out using and cleaning firearms back in the 70's. I used Hoppe's #9. For some reason, in the late 80's I started using other cleaning solvents, probably due to reports of them being more efficient/effective. Used them for some time.
Then, for whatever reason, around 2000 +- I pulled out a bottle of Hoppes and lo and behold, the smell "took me back" reminding me of the early days... what a rush....
To this day Hoppes is the go-to solvent in my shop, it works, both actually as well a memory-ably (if that's even a word).....

 

[WardenRoss]

My first girlfriend wore the cheap Avon perfume.

Absolutely love that aroma! I'll never forget it!


,

 

[walkin jack]

The olfactory system is a wondrous thing. We can label, categorize and pigeon hole scents from decades ago and our memory still knows what they smell like.

Few things trigger old or suppressed memories like aroma.

Astounding piece of work is the Limbic System.

Music can also trigger some memories from the distant past.

 

[TAROMAN]

For me it was the smell of sugar beets cooking. Very earthy smell. As a small child in Nebraska, there was a beet sugar plant in our town. Every fall they started the run. The plant closed when I was little.
Many years later, in Germany, I passed through Euskirchen where their plant was cooking the beets. Instant recall after so many years is amazing!

 

[Rustyt1953]

I haven't encountered a mothball in well over 50 years but drop one in a circus tent full of Vicks Vaporub and I will find it.

 

[Buford57]

You guys are killing me! I lost my sense of smell during surgery in 1997. Since it was choice between being able to smell or breathe, I'm not complaining.

Each of those scents you mention is, in fact, stored in my memory and I sometimes have the reverse effect where a memory triggers an "olfactory hallucination". I hope to recall the scent of a freshly fired paper shotshell someday.

One evidence that God has a sense of humor is that I didn't lose that sense until after I stopped dealing with corpses and drunks. Back then I'd have paid good money to have for an hour or two what I have every day now.

 

[Buford57]

Music can also trigger some memories from the distant past.

Very true. I work with a youth group that sings to residents of nursing homes. Amazing to watch people on the memory units who appear to be in a daze suddenly start singing along. Mostly old hymns and show tunes that trigger them.