Have you ever noticed how a smell or a taste can transport us to another time or place? This is not an exaggeration, but a scientifically proven fact. It even has a name - the 'Proust syndrome'. Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was a famous French writer. In his autobiographical novel, Remembrance Of Times Past, the narrator ate a piece of madeleine cake - a rich cookie-like pastry - with lime flower tea. Then wonderful memories of his childhood came flooding back. He used to get a small piece of cake from his aunt before going out to church on Sunday mornings when he was a child. When the book was published in volumes between 1913 and 1927, this key scene was taken as literary imagination. Now scientists have found that the senses of smell and taste do play a major role in triggering memories. The sensory input that evokes a memory is called a trigger. Our identity therefore comes through touching, seeing, feeling, telling and experiencing. But it is believed that taste and smell are the most powerful of all triggers. Scientists are interested in the topic because memories are often accompanied by intense emotions. It is like a circle. Our memories are shaped by our brains through our senses. How we respond to present situations can be a conditioned reflex from these memories. Sometimes people freak out on seeing or hearing something for reasons that they are not aware of in their conscious mind. Some doctors overseas are already treating soldiers suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder with so-called 'recovered memory therapy'. It is done by exposing the patients to memory triggers and encouraging them to re-enact what had happened. It is hoped that the doctors can find out what the patients fear most and then get it out of their memory system. There is however a risk that more harm than good may be done. In Paris, an exhibition entitled An Intimate Look at the Brain, which runs until June, is focusing on how our memories, emotions, reasoning and thoughts interact with each other. Participants will learn that, in certain contexts, our brains give priority to emotion and choose not to let certain information through the cortex (our conscious system) so that we will be protected from thoughts that upset us. Graphic: 2001B4GYO
