Study reveals a neural basis for how the brain enables odors to elicit memories
Odors evoke powerful memories, an experience enshrined in literature by Marcel Proust and his beloved madeleine.
A new Northwestern Medicine paper is the first to identify a neural basis for how the brain enables odors to so powerfully elicit those memories. The paper shows unique connectivity between the hippocampus--the seat of memory in the brain--and olfactory areas in humans.
This new research suggests a neurobiological basis for privileged access by olfaction to memory areas in the brain. The study compares connections between primary sensory areas--including visual, auditory, touch and smell--and the hippocampus. It found olfaction has the strongest connectivity. It's like a superhighway from smell to the hippocampus.