# Why is smell the strongest sense tied to memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313 "2004-12-11T15:19:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/1 "2004-12-11T15:19:25Z")
We’ve all experienced it…a vague whiff of something, and we’re right back _there_. How come taste, touch, hearing and eyesight don’t have as strong a link? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/2 "2004-12-11T15:27:59Z")
WAG: I think it goes back to the hunting/gathering days when we had to scramble constantly to find food. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/3 "2004-12-11T15:40:13Z")
[This article is from the very well respected online journal nature](http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040524/pf/040524-12_pf.html) gives some good information. However, it concludes that no one really knows why smell is so strongly linked to memory and if you figure it out, you will probably win a Nobel Prize. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/4 "2004-12-11T15:43:28Z")
[Here is a little more technical article](http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Smell/memory.html) that also basically says that this question is not very well understood. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/5 "2004-12-11T16:04:07Z")
IMHO, the amazingly strong correlation between smell and memory is overated. We keep a huge collection of sound memories which allow us to identify old songs within a note or three. Likewise images of places we’ve been trigger massive memory cascades. The memory stimulating effect of odors is probably just a little more startling because we’re bad smellers, and are not often even consciously aware of what we _do_ smell, unless it happens to trigger a memory of wolfing down granny’s fruitcake after a long evenings sleighride through the woods on the road less travelled. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/6 "2004-12-11T16:20:50Z")
I remember being intrigued by an observation made on this subject by Thomas Harris in the novel _Hannibal_. He claimed that smell is the oldest sense, and is closest to the center of the brain, and it’s opined that this was why smell evokes memory. I have no idea how based in fact this is. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/7 "2004-12-11T18:19:47Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > IMHO, the amazingly strong correlation between smell and memory is overated. We keep a huge collection of sound memories which allow us to identify old songs within a note or three. Likewise images of places we’ve been trigger massive memory cascades. The memory stimulating effect of odors is probably just a little more startling because we’re bad smellers, and are not often even consciously aware of what we _do_ smell, unless it happens to trigger a memory of wolfing down granny’s fruitcake after a long evenings sleighride through the woods on the road less travelled. Genius! (seriously) Where do you want your Nobel Prize sent? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/8 "2004-12-11T18:45:11Z")
Smell is the oldest sense, and is thus developmentally tied in with the oldest parts of the brain. It’s the first cranial nerve; that is, the first nerve structure to leave the brain structure to reach out and sample the outside world. Many organisms don’t detect light, or sound, or even touch. But they all have structures to sense other molecules in their environment. So I hypothesize that when the neural connections get complex enough to start forming memory, their chief input will be smells. Just my overeducated WAG, backed by a bit of developmental biology. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/9 "2004-12-11T23:21:54Z")
More memories for me are triggered by hearing than any other (specifically music). What is particularly jarring for me is the combination of either music and smell or music and touch (specifically similar climate conditions, humidity, temperature, etc on my skin). The music and touch has the strongest memory return. (Make it dry, cold, and have Aerosmith playing and I’m back driving my first car!) Not to say that I haven’t had the smell induced memory. I know, I’m just odd. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/10 "2004-12-12T01:01:26Z")
I mentioned this before, in another thread about smells and memory. The 60’s song, Bristol Stomp, done by the Dovells. I hear the first notes of that song, and I smell french fries cooking in grease. From that time period ,when I was hanging around a soda fountain/burger joint, with a juke box. Just that song, and no other. Go figure. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/11 "2004-12-12T05:19:46Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Smell is the oldest sense, and is thus developmentally tied in with the oldest parts of the brain. It’s the first cranial nerve; that is, the first nerve structure to leave the brain structure to reach out and sample the outside world. That pretty much matches what I remember learning in a psych class. Those nerves go straight to the amygdala, and they’re not processed on the way in or something to that effect. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/12 "2004-12-13T04:52:23Z")
Smell is also the most _abstract_ sense. Its difficult, almost impossible really, to quantify smells like the other senses. There’s no equivalent odor scale like color or pitch or bitter vs sweet or rough vs smooth or hot vs cold. And there’s no generic terms to describe smells beyond saying they’re pleasant or foul. Other than that the only way to describe something is to use a real-world example, i.e. you just have to say it smells _like_ this or like that. IOW this reinforces the above ideas that the sense of smell is more **hard-wired** than the others and would therefore be more easily directly-linked to memory. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/13 "2004-12-13T11:06:14Z")
Because of Axe body spray. Why else? ---
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/14 "2004-12-13T13:40:38Z")
**Squink** , I dunno about your explanation: the articles also say that smell-memories are _remembered longer_, not just felt more acutely. To offer an anecdote that of course won’t prove anything: yes, I can immediately recognize many songs, and often I’ll rediscover some song from my childhood, listen to it constantly, and it’ll bring back memories. Later on it’ll just remind me of the time I rediscovered it, not childhood. But no matter how often I use a certain lip balm, its scent brings me right back to checking my e-mail in NY in December 2002. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/15 "2004-12-13T14:10:50Z")
I once understood that as we evolved, the need for smell became less important, and that area of the brain dedicated to smell was taken over by memory functions. I doubt there’s any truth to that, but it’s a damn cool theory. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/16 "2004-12-13T15:20:40Z")
> [@EmeraldGrue](#): > > **Squink** , I dunno about your explanation … To offer an anecdote that of course won’t prove anything The anecdotal nature of the connection forms a goodly part of my objection to to it. I first heard about the unique connection between smell and memory back in the 60’s, so the story’s been around a while. I also learned, at about the same time, that we only use 10% of our brains, and that only 6 people in the whole world could understand Einstein’s theory of relativity. Maybe the Einstein story is true, but the brain usage story wasn’t, and there’s _no way_ we knew enough about the formation and recall of memories in the 60’s to confirm a special smell-\>memory linkage. Yet the story is still with us. Is that because it’s been _proven_ true, or because it confirms something we already believe? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/17 "2004-12-13T15:34:33Z")
Well my understanding is that it all relates to early requirements for survival. If we eat something and subsequently become ill we form a subconscious association that prevents us ingesting it again. Again it may be anecdotal but I know dozens of people who have visceral feelings about smells that they cannot repel. People who got drunk and sick on something with a distinctive smell, say tequila, someone who had a migraine headache while drinking Earl Grey tea. My ex-wife fell ill in a Thai restaurant before our meal even arrived and has been unable to even sit in a Thai restaurant since because of the aromas. Check out Proust’s _Rememberance of Things Past_ and his reference to “a madelaine dipped in tea”. And the OP is right we cannot produce the same sort of physical reaction with any other sense. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/18 "2004-12-13T15:53:45Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Because of Axe body spray. Why else? I think I know the reference you’re trying to make, and the commercial that uses the line in the OP subject is for Old Spice Red Zone Body Wash (or body spray, or deodorant) ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/19 "2004-12-15T01:56:50Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > I think I know the reference you’re trying to make, and the commercial that uses the line in the OP subject is for Old Spice Red Zone Body Wash (or body spray, or deodorant) Damn, you’re right. Stoopid commercials confusing me. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smell-the-strongest-sense-tied-to-memory/279313/20 "2004-12-15T15:06:40Z")
I think I’ve also read that the primary olfactory center is near the hippocampus, which has some significant responsibility as a seat of emotions. That makes sense to me in that the smells don’t bring back a picture in my mind of a moment, but rather the sense of the moment - the emotional context, if you will. Smells don’t so much bring back memories as evoke the feeling of the time, if you’ll permit that distinction. And for me, the explanation that smell and emotion are located in similar places in the brain might be an (overly simplified) physical explanation of this connection. xo C.