OPINION

Triggering Memories

« Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next Page »

Pictured Recipe: Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oven-Fresh Brownie & Cookie Recipes

It’s no wonder that Proust’s famous madeleine, dipped in lime-blossom tea, brings the narrator back through the years to his childhood, to images that “rose up like a stage set.” The reason smell often triggers a memory from way back is because it’s bringing us back to the first time that smell ever registered. Because it’s twinned with an experience, it’s that much stronger. But not for everyone. A few years ago, researchers at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands noticed that people who later went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease had a hard time identifying certain smells, such as lemon and cinnamon. They weren’t sure of the connection—was it that the olfactory system itself was impaired or was this a first sign that something was going wrong with the hippocampus, which is the first place in the brain where Alzheimer’s is manifest? Now researchers at Columbia have demonstrated that a simple scratch-and-sniff test can be an early-warning sign.

« Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next Page »

Add a Comment

dotted line