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Unpicking the link between smell and memories

The ability of aromas to bring back highly specific memories is becoming better understood, and could be used to boost and heal our brains.
  1. Roxanne Khamsi

    1. Roxanne Khamsi is a science journalist based in Montreal.

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Cartoon of a man smelling a flower and recalling being taught to ride a bike as a child

Image: Sam Falconer

A bite of a madeleine cake and a sip of tea is all it took to send Marcel Proust tumbling back into the childhood memory of Sunday mornings with his aunt. “No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate, a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place,” the French novelist wrote in 1913.

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Nature 606, S2-S4 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01626-x

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Smell, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

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