olfaction and emotion

[lethalseethal]

There's a smell in the air that reminds me of New Student Week. Have you ever felt that way before - smelled something and it immediately reminded you of some place/person/event? I remember learning in neuro that it was because the area where your olfactory sense is processed is very close to where memories are formed, meaning that there are often

Comments

[jooolie]

Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed reading that :) I don't have anything much to add, except that I mentally categorize things by smells too--it's very powerful. I have a friend here who's a self-described synesthete (does your book discuss synesthesia at all? It's basically when your brain combines two senses), and she tastes words. She will occasionally be biased against a phrase or concept because it tastes so bad, just as I'm biased against a situation because its smell evokes something negative from sometime before. And of course, it's always hilarious when in normal conversation she'll pause and say something like "By the way, heaven tastes like animal crackers."

[onlisailor]

Ah, I love you for writing about these things, Seethal. I'm studying for my psychobio test tomorrow, which just so happens to include the olfactory system (yes, we learned that too--about smells and memories). And I've got the same questions about whether biology explains all behavior/emotions/etc. I'd respond more, but like I said, I'm studying for psychobio. But another night, definitely. These things are pretty much what I've been thinking about (and bothered by) recently, between my philosophy class last semester and all the psych classes I've taken here

[midnightowl510]

Weird smell - heat, sort of...from when a hair dryer has been going or a curling iron or something. Maybe it's stuff in the air burning, but I always thought that was an odd smell/sensation.

I remember the whole consciousness unit we had in neuro and how it was really troubling...how there's something that happens first that triggers both whatever action you take and the feeling that you had control over it? So it would seem that some unconscious part of our brains are controlling everything, including the feeling of consciousness. But then again, they didn't seem to have all that great a grip on consciousness either, so who really knows.