Why does something smell good?

We often catch ourselves saying, "Wow, this smells good." Why does something smell good to us? How do we recognize something as a "good smell"? The answer to this question is of course our brains or more precisely olfaction-associated memories.

Throughout infancy and early childhood, our brain starts to learn to smell by very carefully memorizing the olfactory experiences we are exposed to. All smells or aromas, "smelly things”, are composed of hundreds of different molecules. Millions of receptors in the nose receive these molecules and transfer the information to the olfactory bulb. This neural structure in our brain relays the olfactory information to the hippocampus, the part of the brain in charge of long-term emotional memories. The scent data is then compared with the already-formed scent memory database. If the brain recognizes this signal as something nice, it triggers the release of chemicals that make us feel good.

The sense of smell is very important to us. We memorize smells from our birth, very often unconsciously. Good smells like flowers, food, fruits, and perfumes are associated with good emotions. If we feel an aroma that in the past we understood as good, we can, in our memories, return to that environment and experience the same good feelings.

We can say that each person is a collection of unique smell memories, so don’t choose your perfume by current trends, but by your soul.