You might not realise it, but the scent of your mum’s perfume will bring back childhood memories forever.
As we grow up and move out away from home, it’s always nice to have something that brings us back to the comfort of our parent’s house. Now, I don’t mean literally, but something that reminds us of the days when we were growing up in our childhood home. We understand how powerful our sense of smell can be, and so it’s unsurprising that when we come into contact with that familiar scent of our mum’s perfume, we instantly feel nostalgic for the place where we know so well, the place we grew up and the person who held our hands along the way.
There’s a scientifically proven reason behind the sense of nostalgia that scent can bring to us, especially the scent of our mum’s perfume once we’ve move away from home. We spoke to Dr. Andy Murray, who’s achieved a PhD Cognitive Neuropsychology, to find out about how our sense of smell and memories are connected and why scent is the ultimate, powerful scent.
“The human sense of smell is extremely powerful. It often does not get the attention it deserves. As a society we are bombarded with sound and vision, but all the while scent is arguably king.” He described why this incredibly intricate sense forms an important bond between a mother and her child. “Right from the beginning your sense of smell is already important, it develops quickly in the womb and smell passes through the amniotic fluid that you breathe, forming your perceptions of the world before you are even born – and when you are born it is that same sense of smell that helps you bond with your mother as your sight is still in its infancy.”
The scent of our mum’s goes deeper than just the fragrance she wears, but unfortunately as we get older that’s probably all that triggers the brain, but that doesn’t mean it’s less significant. Dr. Myers says that, “you only have to smell something from your childhood to suddenly trigger an emotion and even distinct memories.” So, if you’re walking through duty free and get a whiff of the perfume she wore at your eighth birthday, it can easily take you straight back to that very day.
So now we’re wondering, how exactly does this happen? “Deep inside your brain is something called the olfactory bulb, this is the area of your brain that processes smell. This is directly connected to two key brain areas – the amygdala which is the core area of your brain responsible for processing of emotion, and the hippocampus, which is key to memory processing. While all other senses have to wind their way through the cortex, scent has a direct link to these key regions. The reason is that no other sense is so linked to emotion and memory as that of smell.” Dr. Murray explained that studies have proved that the first mental pairing between a specific object and a certain scent leaves a ‘unique signature on the brain’, apparently sound can’t even do that.
Like a lot of things, the things we smell are simply expectations based on reminders and memories. This means, that when we’re exposed to a smell, our brain instantly tries to work out the associations it has with it. Dr. Murray demonstrated with the way that scents make us feel. “For example, a high intensity scent may be something invigorating like a sharp citrus smell, while a pleasant low intensity smell may be something calming like lavender. Such associations can of course work both ways, a scent can evoke the memory of an emotion but equally they can help to facilitate a mood. However, of course don’t forget memory in all of this, particular smells can evoke good and bad memories that are associated with them.”
So, that’s why the scent of our Mum’s perfume is so important as we grow up. While we still live at home, under her roof, we had no idea of the significance that it would have once our little lives grew into adult lives. Our sense of smell is such an incredible thing and the way that it reacts and connects with our brains is something astonishingly special. So, take note of that pretty bottle of perfume that lives on your mum’s perfume cupboard, it might be a sweet sense of nostalgia one day.
