That smell brings back memories

Have you ever taken a whiff of someone’s cologne/perfume and the mere scent took you back to a distant memory you thought you’d long forgotten? It happens to me from time to time when I pass someone on the street or at my grocery store. Actually, a specific flowery perfume reminds of my time at Fragonard in France many years ago.

This kind of memory, where an unexpected re-encounter with a scent from the distant past brings back a rush of memories, is called a “Proustian Memory”. It’s named after Marcel Proust, one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. Scientists are coming close to understanding why this phenomenon occurs, scientifically speaking. But they’re not quite there yet.

So what has sparked your memories? What kind of experiences have you had?