Why a familiar scent can bring a memory back

An ordinary smell, an unexpected memory

A familiar smell can sometimes bring a person or place to mind with surprising feeling: a kitchen, a garden, a childhood home. Researchers call memories of your own experiences autobiographical memories. Odour is one kind of cue that can accompany them.

Emotion is not the same as accuracy

In a 2002 study, Herz and Schooler compared memories experienced with olfactory and visual cues. Participants rated memories in the odour condition as more emotional and tended to feel more brought back to the experience.

Participants first recalled a memory from a verbal label before receiving the sensory cue. This matters: the study is not proof that smell independently retrieves more memories. A vivid feeling also does not show that a memory is more accurate, permanent or therapeutically useful.

Smell and childhood memories

Willander and Larsson's 2006 study involved 93 older adults given word, picture or odour cues. Odour-cued memories tended to come from earlier childhood and were associated with a stronger feeling of being transported back in time.

These were retrospective reports from older adults, not a test of parents remembering their newborns. The study did not examine preserved newborn odour or reconstructed fragrances.

Making room for your own reminders

A photograph, a few lines in a notebook or a description of a quiet morning can become a personal reminder of early parenthood. There is no single right way to keep those memories, and no scent is necessary.

Our reconstructed scent is intended as an adult keepsake. These studies do not demonstrate that it recreates an individual baby's odour or reliably retrieves memories. Keep any keepsake fragrance and its cotton, bottle and tin out of children's reach; never introduce them into a baby's sleep space.