Have you ever been out on a walk and suddenly you smelled something that affected you very strongly? I’m not talking about allergies, but about an aroma that triggered something emotional in you, a memory of a long forgotten childhood event or a intensely detailed image. This effect is sometimes known as the “Proust Effect”, referring to the author Marcel Proust who wrote about memory recall as a strong unconscious reaction to a smell.
The connection between smell and memory happens to be a directly physical one. The olfactory bulb in the brain is only two neuronal synapses removed from the amygdala (an area of the brain implicated in emotional memory), and three synapses away from the hippocampus (our brain’s short-term memory powerhouse). This nearness links the emotional brain to the smell receptors more closely than to any other sense. (more…)
In school, did you ever have do study for a class that you had no interest in and just had to take? Did you end up doing well in that class and learning all that you could? If you answered yes to both questions, congratulations! You are extremely well motivated. However, if you are like me and only tried to study just enough in that class to get a good grade, but didn’t really learn anything, I have some insight for you. The reason you had trouble studying and caring about this uninteresting class was because you were only externally motivated. You saw this class as merely something that you had to take, and the only investment you had in the class was to get a good grade.
