Jonah Lehrer writes:
Rachel Herz, a psychologist at Brown, has shown--in a science paper wittily entitled "Testing the Proustian Hypothesis"--that our sense of smell and taste are uniquely sentimental. This is because smell and taste are the only senses that connect directly to the hippocampus, the center of the brain's long-term memory. All our other senses (sight, touch and hearing) are first processed by the thalamus, the source of language and the front door to consciousness. As a result, these senses are much less efficient at summoning up our past.
Interesting stuff, though I find aural triggers much more powerful than tastebud effects. For me, a song can force emotional time travel in a way a taste simply can't. That may be because I stop hearing those songs after that period is over, while I keep tasting foods. I only listened, for instance, to Eiffel 65's "Blue" while I was doing daily jogs in my sophomore year, so its opening notes have an intensely specific association. In contrast, I've eaten tuna sashimi continuously for my whole life, so it lacks quite the same anchor. Meanwhile, various businesses are beginning to pump patented scents into their establishments, hoping to create emotional attachments in their customers. This could get annoying...
