Are you familiar with In Search of Lost Time? This monumental work by Marcel Proust, one of the great writers of 20th-century Western literature, is regarded as a masterpiece of French literature, in which Proust himself delves deeply into the essence of human life. Among its most famous passages is a scene that vividly illustrates the psychological power of “taste” and “scent”: the moment of profound happiness triggered when the narrator eats a madeleine dipped in tea.
The protagonist—simply called “I”—is offered a madeleine by his mother on a winter day. Feeling somewhat blue and weighed down by the cold, he takes a bite of the small madeleine after soaking it briefly in tea. In that instant, an overwhelming rush of pleasure and happiness sweeps through him. Unable to escape the intensity of this sudden sensation, he is left bewildered. What on earth has just happened to me?
The memories flood back: the Sundays of his childhood, his aunt offering him tea-soaked madeleines, the house she lived in, its surroundings, and the warmth of those moments. These recollections rise up automatically—clear, vivid, and alive, as if he were seeing them with his own eyes. This scene, where the sensory experience of scent reopens doors to deeply buried memories, later became known as the Proust Effect.
A wide range of research has since explored this effect. Just as the novel describes, sensory cues such as smells and tastes can unlock our memories—particularly those tied to nostalgia, like memories with family, loved ones, and life-defining moments. Such memories often evoke bittersweet yet positive emotions. Nostalgia has been shown to enhance self-esteem and well-being, strengthen our sense of life’s meaning and social connectedness, and even stimulate creativity and inspiration (Green et al., 2023).
The way scent is processed in the brain is also unique. Olfactory information is transmitted directly to the hippocampus, which governs memory, and the amygdala, which processes emotion (Herz, 2016). This is why experiences like the Proust Effect—where scent seems to speak directly to our memories and emotions—hit so strongly. Research shows that amygdala activation is stronger after olfactory stimuli than after auditory or visual ones (Royet et al., 2000), explaining why scents can evoke such vivid moods and feelings.