# Is it possible to imagine a smell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360 "2003-02-16T02:31:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/1 "2003-02-16T02:31:13Z")
My grandmother died on December 28 and I’ve been somewhat depressed ever since. This morning, I woke up and thought about her. Then, I distinctly smelled her perfume, which is no longer manufactured, afaik. I smelled it for a few minutes and then it went away. It should be noted that my grandmother lived 1000 miles away and had never been to my house while she was living). Am I crazy? Is it possible to imagine smells? ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/2 "2003-02-16T02:53:25Z")
I think it’s quite common to imagine smells, actually. I know that I do it occaisonally… ---
**Author:** ![FranticMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c68b51/32.png) [@FranticMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FranticMad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/3 "2003-02-16T03:43:18Z")
Of course it is. Smell is intimately connected with memory. [http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro00/web2/Ito.html](http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro00/web2/Ito.html) > **[Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling the World](https://www.hhmi.org/seeing-hearing-and-smelling-world)** > > “Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling the World,” originally published in 1995, was the fifth in a series of reports about biomedical science. We have removed this content from our website because the information was not as current as we would like. Please... ---
**Author:** ![soulburnz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/4 "2003-02-16T04:15:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Emotional memories > > The connection between odor, memory and emotion has an anatomical basis. The primary olfactory cortex, which receives information about smells from nerves in the nose, links directly to the amygdala, which controls expression and experience of emotion, and the hippocampus, which controls the consolidation of memories. > > Odor-evoked memories may seem clearer or more intense than other memories because they appear to be more emotional than memories triggered by visual, audio or other types of cues, Herz finds. While odors don’t help people recall more information, the memories they evoke are more emotionally laden, her research suggests. from: [Certain smells evoke stronger memories](http://www.pyramidtlc.org/medich2.htm) I can think of alot of different scent memories just sitting here. Both positive and negative. I have always been really sensitive in that area. Thinking of how my Grandma’s house smells… 🙂 walking into a hospital and smelling Ether… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/5 "2003-02-16T06:28:39Z")
This isn’t really applicable to your experience which I believe has been answered. But in the interest of fighting ignorance, it should be noted that olfactory hallucination can be a symptom of temperal lobe seizure. ---
**Author:** ![Marduk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Marduk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marduk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/6 "2003-02-16T06:45:30Z")
Well I don’t know about smell but I do remember reading somewhere that you can’t actually remember what pain feels like. You know that you didn’t like it and can _sorta_ remember it but its not really close to what it does feel like. Would have been interesting to test that. Scientist: Ok I want you to remember what it felt like to have some foreign object shoved through your hand. Test Subject: Ok. I remember it. Scientist: Now do you remember it to feel like this? _Shoves pencil through the subjects hand_ Test Subject: _after screaming has stopped_ I guess I didn’t actually remember it that well. ---
**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/7 "2003-02-16T12:15:26Z")
Yes, it is very plausible. I’ve had it happen many times. As mentioned, smell is linked to memory. This is why certain smells will also evoke memories - crayons and playdough often make people think of specific incidents in childhood, etc. ---
**Author:** ![lk1932](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@lk1932](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lk1932)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/8 "2003-02-17T03:57:26Z")
A friend of mine had died in bed 3 years ago and was not discovered until a week later. I was asked to identify the body but the body was so decomposed that a positive ID was almost impossible. The smell was unbearable. For months afterwards I would wake up in the middle of the night and could swear that the bedroom was filled with the foul odor. It would be so bad that I would have to get out of the bedroom. Even 3 years later, the smell returns for a few seconds every now and then. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/9 "2003-02-17T05:20:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lk1932 \* > \*\*A friend of mine had died in bed 3 years ago and was not discovered until a week later. I was asked to identify the body but the body was so decomposed that a positive ID was almost impossible. The smell was unbearable. For months afterwards I would wake up in the middle of the night and could swear that the bedroom was filled with the foul odor. It would be so bad that I would have to get out of the bedroom. Even 3 years later, the smell returns for a few seconds every now and then. \*\* Eyikes! I had a similar experience, but only maybe one per cent as terrible! I was visiting a friend who didn’t clean his catboxes often enough, and, for the whole next day, I “smelled” cat poop. So, yes, olfactory hallucinations are relatively common. (Sympathies for what must have been a very troubling experience.) Trinopus ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/10 "2003-02-17T06:56:30Z")
I have just had a similar experience. Yesterday I went to a fruit and veg shop and there was a very strong butyric acid smell in the carpark due to some rancid rotting food. Over the next day I have smelt subtle rancid smells in three other places. It is not a smell I have smelt at all for about a year at least. The places I have been are not unusual. So either: 1. olfactory hallucination planted by yesterdays experience and triggered by a similar smell or other stimulous 2. coincidently did smell same stuff 3. just happened to notice the same smell that I would have normally missed if it were not for the recent sensitization of the brain to that smell There could be a thesis in this. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/11 "2003-02-17T07:00:04Z")
In dreams past I’ve smelled and tasted things in my mind equally vivid to those experiences I’d have while waking. Sometimes better. ---
**Author:** ![lk1932](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@lk1932](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lk1932)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/12 "2003-02-17T21:30:12Z")
I forgot to mention in my reply that for some reason Lysol Spray triggers that awfull odor. When my wife uses the spray in the house I’m Gone. ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-imagine-a-smell/155360/13 "2003-02-17T23:42:56Z")
When I think of my old lover (the one I think of as the love of my life) I know exactly what he smells like. I saw him a few months ago and the entire next day I swear I could smell him…