Submission # 6: What is the relationship between smell and memories? Why do certain smells trigger such strong nostalgic memories?

Do you ever smell something and suddenly you feel like you are back in an old memory. Maybe you smelled some cookies and it reminded you of when you went to a bakery with your friends after school one day. Or maybe you smelled burnt rubber and it reminded you of the time you saw a car crash in a movie. Why is it that by smelling something for even a second can bring you back to a place and time that you thought you forgot about? Now, this doesn’t happen all the time, it happens when you least expect it, and most of the time- in my experience- the memory that you remember is quite bizarre and random. You could be walking down to street and all of a sudden you smell something that reminds you of when you made a paper clock in 1st grade. I was thinking about this because we were talking about memory in TOK class and because I recently bought a new lotion, and when I smelled it for the first time, I realized that it smelled like an apple field. The only time I have ever been near an apple field was when my family and I drove past one on a road trip. I found it a little odd that memory would come up because the lotion wasn’t even apple scented, it is ‘Pomegranate Argon & Grapeseed’ scented. I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but sometimes I miss that scent and I want to smell it again, especially if you don’t know where it came from.