What Sense is most likely to trigger a memory?
I had a friend who could smell something and that smell would trigger a memory – i.e. the smell of apple pie and she was “instantly” 7 yrs old again and back sitting in her grandmother’s kitchen watching her make pies for church. My sense tends to be music – I hear “Stairway to Heaven” and I remember that long slow dance at my 9th grade dance with my crush who is now one of my best friends. What about you? When do you get flashes of memory from something you taste/smell/touch/see/feel ?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
8 Answers
Same goes for me. Music. I have a lot of music that I used to listen to only at my grandmother’s house because they were her CDs. Now that house is sold and my grandmother is dead. But I have all the same music and it all makes me think of her and the house that I loved visiting so much as a young kid. The music “transports” me to that house. (Music includes Francis Poulenc’s “Gloria”, Modest Mussorgsky’s “Da Zdravsvuet”, and Maurice Durufle’s “Requiem”). There’s also certain songs that make me think of trips I’ve taken or eras in my life, like middle school or my trip to L.A. in 2007. Sometimes music has given me a sentimental nostalgic feeling (in this case, it reminded me of middle school) despite the fact that I just discovered the music. That has more to do with the sound of the music than the individual song.
biologically speaking it’s supposed to be smell
of course we remember things from songs, or pictures or something. But that’s simply because we don’t have names for every single smell and combination thereof. Freshly-cut grass always reminds me of London in the 80s, though I could not for the life of me tell you what songs I liked at the time.
Smell. No question.
My nephew bought an antique car (I think from the 40’s). He was showing it to me, and I sat in the driver seat, and smelled that leather, and it instantly took me back to my father’s 51 Cad.
When I dream, occasionally I will smell something in the dream, and it totally convinces me that whatever I am seeing is real.
Hearing. Sometimes the giggle of kids playing in the park takes me back to the elementary school playground. And music will definitely transport me back in time at odd moments, but it has to be as a surprise, like hearing an old melody wafting from someone’s car radio or something.
smell is the best for me. One smell of the breeze off the river and I am instantly transported by to the days of fishing as a child with my Dad, or with my older brothers.
Sight works best when one is in a place like a flea market or a antique/junk store and you see something from those days of yore. yore is a Shakespearian term meaning from when you hadn’t gotten hair under your arms yet. ;-)
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
