How Smells Trigger Memories

How Smells Trigger Memories

Many things can trigger memories, whether it is spending time with a certain person, hearing a song that we haven’t heard in years, or revisiting a place from our past. Smells can also trigger vivid memories and feelings. When certain scents hit our nostrils, we can be transported back to a different time and place and feel strong emotions.

At Sweet Grass Farms, we understand that fragrances can do a lot. While they may make your home, clothes, or skin smell wonderful, they can also provide us with emotions and bring back memories. With so many fragrances to choose from when shopping our natural home and body products, you can find one that brings you back to a special moment or makes you feel strong emotions.



In our last blog, we talked about our seasonal scents and how you can spice up your home with these warm and cozy fragrances. Today, we walked to talk about why these scents bring up such strong emotions and memories during the holidays. Read on to learn why and how smells trigger these emotional responses!

How It Works

Sensory information that you receive from seeing, hearing, or touching something is sent to the thalamus, which is like the brain’s relay station. From there, the information is sent to relevant areas of the brain, including the hippocampus and the amygdala. The hippocampus is the area of the brain responsible for memory and the amygdala is responsible for processing emotions.

The way we process scents is different. When you smell something, that information skips over the thalamus and is sent straight to the brain’s olfactory bulb. This area of the brain is directly connected to the hippocampus and the amygdala. This may be why smells can instantly trigger a memory and emotions. There are about 1,000 different types of smell receptors but only four types of light sensors and touch receptors. This explains why we have such a strong response to smells over our other senses.

What This Means

Since smells have such a big impact on your brain and stimulate the hippocampus and amygdala, this sense becomes important when it comes to memory and emotions. Think about some scents that take you back to a certain moment or bring up certain emotions. We all have experienced this at one point in our lives.

Maybe the smell of pine reminds you of the days when your family would trudge into the forest to cut down a Christmas tree, a wonderful memory that you are likely never to forget and will remember every time you smell pine. Or maybe the smell of a certain laundry detergent reminds you of your mom and suddenly you are overwhelmed with emotions and memories of your mom.

While you may not have realized that certain scents bring back memories or make you feel some kind of way, we are sure you have experienced this before. One of the main times that we have experienced this is during the holiday season. There are so many beautiful, warm, and stimulating scents that come about during this time of year.

For many, it is the fragrance that surrounds them that makes the holiday season so special and meaningful. These scents of cinnamon, apples, cranberries, pine, holly, and pumpkin are so much more than fragrances during this time of year. They can bring back memories of a previous holiday that made us feel happy, cozy, and connected. They can bring back emotions that make us love the holidays.

Adding different scents to your home during this time of year can help spark great holiday memories and make this time of year even more special. And that is why Sweet Grass Farm offers a variety of products in our seasonal fragrances that can create this response.

Our collection of seasonal fragrances include:


These fragrances are warm, cozy, and perfect for the holiday season. They are likely to spark a memory or two and recreate those joyful holiday emotions. Whether you want to add these fragrances in the form of a candle, hand soap, or lotion, we can help you find the perfect scent and the perfect products. These scents are designed specifically for the holiday season with some of the favorite smells of the season. The fruity, natural, and warm fragrance will add even more to your holidays and help spark some great memories and feelings.

Be sure to spark some good memories and order our seasonally scented natural home and body products today! Contact Sweet Grass Farm with any questions you may have. We are happy to help you with anything you need!
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