Proust’s madeleine effect: what does it consist of?

Surely it has happened to you, walking down the street, smelling a perfume and remembering that person. Enter a store, smell the aroma that its clothes give off and a specific memory comes to mind, completely automatically. If you have experienced something similar, you may have experienced Proust’s madeleine effect.

And human memory is very powerful, especially a very sensory type of memory that connects directly with our most emotional part: olfactory memory. The so-called Proust madeleine effect has to do with all this, a phenomenon that takes place in our brain.

When we experience this phenomenon, what happens is the following; When perceiving a certain sensation through our senses (normally, through smell), said sensation evokes, in turn, a past event, without any conscious process mediating this. If you want to discover more about this interesting phenomenon, stay!

Some smells connect directly with memories and events from the past.

The origin of the cupcake effect

In 1913, Marcel Proust, a famous French author, wrote a book called Along Swann’s pathin which he tells in one of his volumes the story of a protagonist who, after tasting a cupcake, access very deep memories of your childhood and to other important events that occur after this decisive moment.

Thus, the name Proust’s madeleine effect is borrowed from literature to refer to a quite interesting mnemic phenomenon which helps us understand how the senses are intimately related to the way we process and access our memories, even those we are not aware of. What else do we know about this curious effect?

Proust’s madeleine effect: what does it consist of?

Proust’s Magdalena is the name used to refer to the association that our brain makes, automatically and involuntarily, when we perceive certain smells or flavors that make us evoke certain memories. We do this without realizing it and without will, that is, when we do not have the intention of evoking any memory, but we smell or touch something and that sensation connects directly with a memory in question.

Although it can occur with stimuli of any type, the truth is that it occurs more frequently with aromas or odors, which we can perceive through smell. Thus, the effect we are talking about today has a great relationship with olfactory memory. And this is explained, most likely, by the close connection of the olfactory regions of the brain with the hippocampus pothe brain structure “where” long-term memories are stored (which we will talk about a little later).

Brain, memory and emotions

Within the memory process, the senses are highly involved, and although many may think that sight and hearing are the most important when it comes to storing information, the truth is that taste and smell can become even more decisive when fixing memories.

Limbic system and memory

According to scientific research, The part of the brain involved in Proust’s madeleine effect is the limbic system. This system is made up of such important structures as the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and corpus callosum.

The thalamus is the organ in charge of receiving all the stimuli perceived through the senses, which pass to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus, in turn, is a part of our brain that It is among the main organs involved in the memory process And it is precisely there that these stimuli are processed and associated with emotions.

For its part, the hippocampus is a structure of the limbic system that is responsible for creating new memories, which are subsequently stored in long-term memory. Together with the amygdala, the hippocampus is responsible for managing emotions, and both are structures in charge of emotional learning and memories impregnated with emotions, which directly influence people’s behavior and mood.

Importance of smell for the human mind

The studies of olfactory processes go beyond a mere scientific curiosity, as it is an interesting field relatively little explored by neuroscience, which fortunately is increasingly researched and which today is beginning to be understood in all its implications. .

Smells have a function that goes far beyond helping to create or evoke memories, since It has been proven that there is a significant correlation between the ability to remember or recognize certain smells and the appearance of various pathologies.among which is, for example, dementia.

In this way, this type of study can be a very valuable tool for be able to detect early the appearance or predisposition to some diseases, even being used as a prevention strategy. The importance and value of understanding how our brains work in relation to smells is a matter that we are only beginning to clearly see, opening up, however, a wide range of possibilities for the study of neuroscience.

The limbic system is responsible for Proust’s madeleine effect.

A trip to the past

Proust’s madeleine effect It is a curious phenomenon that allows us to connect with memories of the past (some that perhaps we already thought we had forgotten). With it, we transport ourselves to the moment in which we experience X situation (generally, situations with a strong emotional charge, which are those that best remain in our memory).

And they are usually situations that are related to the sensation that we are feeling at that precise moment (for example, smelling the same aroma that we smelled on the day that X experience happened to us). The memories that certain sensations evoke in us can be both pleasant and unpleasant.which is why some people experience Proust’s madeleine effect positively and others, not so much.

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