Scent and Memory: How Smell Lets You Travel Back in Time
I surveyed the bathroom quickly, and proceeded to spray the cleaning product over the visible surfaces. Almost immediately, I was transported back in time.
To Sarah at 17 years old, working as a chambermaid at the local hotel, where I cleaned their nine rooms every weekend. I was an expert at envelope corners!
I normally use smol cleaning products at home (smol are a Certified B Corp), but for some reason had picked up a different spray (Flash, if you’re interested!) and it was this one that triggered the memory that I hadn’t thought about in decades.
If you’ve ever caught a whiff of something and been catapulted back in time, you’ll know exactly what I mean. In this post, I’m sharing some of the science of why scent and memory are so tightly linked, a few of my own experiences of this and how I now use scent on purpose to switch into focussed work.
The short answer: your sense of smell has an unusually direct line to the parts of your brain that handle emotion and memory. That's why scent memories feel less like remembering and more like being there. And it's why a scent can become a powerful cue for the way you want to feel.
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Why do smells trigger such vivid memories?
Smell signals travel to the olfactory bulb, which links directly to the amygdala and hippocampus, the brain's emotion and memory hubs.
Most of what you see, hear and touch gets routed through a relay station in the brain called the thalamus before it reaches the areas that process emotion and memory. Smell takes a shortcut.
When you breathe in a scent, receptors in your nose send signals to the olfactory bulb, which runs along the base of your brain. The olfactory bulb has direct connections to:
The amygdala, which processes emotion
The hippocampus, which is central to memory and learning
Neuroscientists think this close wiring is why our brains learn to tie smells so tightly to emotional moments. In one small study, psychologist Rachel Herz and her team at Brown University found that people showed more brain activity when smelling a perfume linked to a happy memory than when smelling one they'd never come across.
So when the smell of the Flash hit me, my brain went straight to the feeling of being 17… and very proud of my envelope corners.
Why do scent memories take us back to childhood?
Research shows smell-triggered memories cluster before age 10, earlier than memories cued by words or images, and feel more like time travel.
In a 2006 Swedish study, researchers Johan Willander and Maria Larsson gave older adults different memory cues: words, pictures and smells.
Memories prompted by words and pictures mostly came from ages 11 to 20
Memories prompted by smells mostly came from the first decade of life
The smell-triggered memories also came with a stronger sense of being transported back in time, and they were memories people had thought about less often. That fits my experience perfectly.
A few years ago I treated myself to a fancy candle called Library from True Grace. It's a smoky blend of wood, amber and moss, designed to feel like walking into an old library. Weirdly, it took me straight back to the strange smells of the Jorvik Viking Centre from when I was a small child. I have lovely memories of that family trip. (I've just had a look at their website, and the tour takes you inside the home of an amber worker, so perhaps it's the amber!)
Then there's The Body Shop. I've loved their products and packaging since I was a girl. My mum used the cucumber toner and carrot moisturiser, and my sister and I collected the little sample-sized bottles. We had so many it was unbelievable, and they all smelled amazing. I think one of my first perfumes was White Musk. The cleanser I'm using now has a smell that reminds me of The Body Shop (fuzzy peach, maybe?) and every time I use it, I'm back there.
And my favourite: when I was little, living in the Middle East, we collected stickers. Amongst my collection was a series of scratch and sniff ones, baked goods and fruity scents. I still have them, 35 years on. I LOVED the cherry ones.
Notice a pattern? Nearly all of my strongest smell memories are from childhood. The research says that's not a coincidence.
Why doesn't every familiar smell bring memories flooding back?
Scent memories tend to arrive unexpectedly. Going looking for one, or smelling something you met in lots of settings, can soften the effect.
My sister recently bought me a bottle of my late mum's perfume, Cerruti 1881. I fully expected to be overwhelmed by nostalgia. And I wasn't.
I've wondered why, and the research offers a few possible reasons:
Smell memories are usually involuntary. They ambush you. The Flash moment worked because I wasn't expecting anything. Sitting down to deliberately smell a perfume and wait for a memory is a very different experience.
Strong scent memories often link to one distinct moment. Researchers suggest that because we rarely talk about smells, the first time we encounter one tends to stick. My mum's perfume was part of everyday life for years, so it may not be anchored to a single vivid scene.
Perfume smells different on skin. The bottle isn't quite the same as the scent of her.
I find this oddly comforting. It means scent isn't magic. It's association, which we can build on purpose.
Can you use scent to anchor a feeling on purpose?
Yes. Pairing a scent with a specific experience, then reintroducing it later, can help call back the memory and mood linked to it.
Knowing all this about smell (and my well-documented love of an immersive experience), I started using it to my advantage.
When I got engaged, I bought a new perfume and wore it in the run-up to the big day and on the day itself. Afterwards, a spritz of Euphoria could take me right back to how happy I felt. (Now that I'm divorced, it's been nearly 20 years since I last picked up a bottle! Moving on…)
There's science behind this too. In a 2007 study published in Science, Björn Rasch and colleagues had people learn where pairs of cards sat on a grid while smelling roses. Some smelled the roses again during deep sleep. That group remembered 97% of the card locations the next day, compared to 85% for the others.
It only worked when the scent had been there during the original learning. Introducing a scent later didn't help. The smell had to be part of the experience from the start.
That's the whole principle of scent anchoring in one sentence. Pair the scent with the state you want, consistently, and it becomes a cue your brain recognises.
How do I use scent in a deep work ritual?
Choose one scent used only for focused work, light it as you begin and keep it away from rest time so it becomes a cue to concentrate.
I have a particular ritual for focused work (I've written about it in what's on my desk). The scent is a big part of it.
Right now it's incense: sandalwood, in hand-rolled sticks (Maegen Sandalwood) from Norden in North Berwick. Sandalwood reminds me of my mum. She used essential oils a lot, and I remember getting aromatherapy books for Christmas as a child. Sandalwood was one of her favourites. So my focus scent carries a little bit of her with it, which I love.
What I don't do is use the same oils at night that I use for focused work. Keeping them separate is what makes the anchor work.
Here's how to build your own:
Pick one scent for one state. I have a scent for focussed work, and a separate scent for bedtime when I want to be calm and relaxed.
Use it only for that state. If your focus scent also fills the room while you scroll your phone on the sofa, the signal gets muddy.
Pair it with a clear start. Light the candle or incense, or apply the balm, as the very first step of your focus block.
Be consistent for a few weeks. Association builds through repetition.
Choose something you genuinely like. A scent with a happy memory attached (like my sandalwood) gives you a head start.
Notice what happens. Does settling in feel easier? Adjust if it doesn't.
This ties directly into Place, one of my 8 P's of conscious time management. Your environment shapes your focus. Scent is a way to change your environment and tell your brain, "We're working now."
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What scents are on my wish list for the new office?
A Neom wellbeing pod and Aesop's Resurrection hand balm, both from Certified B Corps, to anchor calm and focus in my new workspace.
If you haven’t been following along on socials, I’ve recently leased an office space in Glasgow city centre. A new office feels like the perfect chance to build fresh scent anchors. Top of my wish list:
A Neom wellbeing pod for a gentle, consistent scent in the room
Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm, which I'm thinking of as a "start of session" ritual
Both are fellow Certified B Corps.
Frequently asked questions about scent and memory
What is the Proust effect? The Proust effect describes a smell or taste triggering a sudden, vivid memory. It's named after Marcel Proust, whose narrator is carried back to childhood by a madeleine dipped in tea.
Why are smell memories so emotional? The olfactory bulb connects directly to the amygdala, which processes emotion, so scent memories tend to arrive with strong feelings attached.
Can scent improve focus at work? Scent can act as a cue. Using one scent consistently for focused work helps your brain link it with concentration, making it easier to settle in.
How long does it take to build a scent anchor? There's no fixed number, but consistency matters most. Use the same scent for the same task over several weeks and the association will strengthen.
Should I use different scents for work and rest? Yes. Keeping separate scents for focus and winding down stops the signals blurring, so each one does its job.
The takeaway
Scent and memory are wired together in a way no other sense quite matches. That's why a bottle of Flash can send you back to your teenage weekends, and why a candle can take you to a Viking village.
But the real gift is this: you don't have to wait for scent memories to find you. You can build them. Choose the feeling you want more of, pair it with a scent and let your brain do the time travelling for you.
Tell me in the comments: which smell takes you straight back in time?