I was watching an old episode of the TV series MASH this morning and Alan Alda’s character was main focus. They thought he had come down with something and they were trying to investigate just what it could be. Alan’s character kept sneezing and itching. They gave him Benadryl and had him pretty much on bed rest. Since his character was a doctor they went through the belongings of service members who he treated the past day or so. After not finding a connection they send in the psychiatrist to investigate it from the mental side. The doc gets him talking about his past and more specifically his childhood. One of the patients Alan treated had fallen into some sort of ditch or trench and had come into the MASH unit smelling old and moldy. The smell was the trigger.

The smell triggered memories deep down that he had come to believe was a good memory but as he kept talking he then realized it wasn’t necessarily a good one.

I have had something similar in my past. I believe I have touched on this in an earlier post but I do not know if I have or not. I tried to commit suicide after something triggered a memory. If I haven’t posted it I hope someone will let me know. I have gone through my posts and don’t think I see it anywhere. So would someone please let me know?

How does smell trigger memories?

One reason this might be has to do with the way your brain processes odors and memories. Smells get routed through your olfactory bulb, which the smell-analyzing region in your brain. It’s closely connected to your amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions that handle memory and emotion. Why is the sense of smell so important? Smell is an important sense as it can alert us to danger like gas leak, fire or rotten food but also is closely linked to parts of the brain that process emotion and memory. Unpleasant and bad smells actually send pain signals to the brain to warn us of possible danger. How does smell affect the brain? Those smell cells in the nose are linked to the limbic system – which in evolutionary terms is among the oldest parts of the brain – which governs emotions, behaviour and long-term memory. … But although the survival importance of smell has largely disappeared, its effects on the brain and body remain. What is olfactory memory? Olfactory memory refers to the recollection of odors. Studies have found various characteristics of common memories of odor memory including persistence and high resistance to interference. Why is the sense of smell the strongest? Smell and Memory. The sense of smell is closely linked with memory, probably more so than any of our other senses. Those with full olfactory function may be able to think of smells that evoke particular memories; the scent of an orchard in blossom conjuring up recollections of a childhood picnic, for example. How does smell work? Underneath the mucus, in the olfactory epithelium, specialized receptor cells called olfactory receptor neurons detect the odor. These neurons are capable of detecting thousands of different odors. The olfactory receptor neurons transmit the information to the olfactory bulbs, which are located at the back of the nose. What triggers memory recall? Recall in memory refers to the mental process of retrieval of information from the past. … There are three main types of recall: free recall, cued recall and serial recall. Psychologists test these forms of recall as a way to study the memory processes of humans and animals. Is memory a sense? Brain’s Link Between Sounds, Smells and Memory Revealed. Sights, sounds and smells can all evoke emotionally charged memories. A new study in rats suggests why: The same part of the brain that’s in charge of processing our senses is also responsible, at least in part, for storing emotional memories. How does the brain store and retrieve memories? After consolidation long-term memories are stored throughout the brain as groups of neurons that are primed to fire together in the same pattern that created the original experience, and each component of a memory is stored in the brain area that initiated it (e.g. groups of neurons in the visual cortex store a sight, neurons in the amygdala store the associated emotion, etc). Autobiographical memory encompasses our recollections of specific, personal events. What is an event memory? An event memory is a mental construction of a scene recalled as a single occurrence. It therefore requires the hippocampus and ventral visual stream needed for all scene construction. Where memory is stored in the brain? MIT researchers have shown, for the first time ever, that memories are stored in specific brain cells. By triggering a small cluster of neurons, the researchers were able to force the subject to recall a specific memory. By removing these neurons, the subject would lose that memory. What is memory in psychology? Rehearsal is a verbal process regardless of whether the list of items is presented acoustically (someone reads them out), or visually (on a sheet of paper). The principle encoding system in long term memory (LTM) appears to be semantic coding (by meaning). How memories are created stored and recalled? Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain, and later retrieve information. There are three major processes involved in memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval. … The retrieval process allows us to bring stored memories into conscious awareness. What is a psychological trigger? A trigger is something that sets off a memory tape or flashback transporting the person back to the event of her/his original trauma. Triggers are very personal; different things trigger different people. The survivor may begin to avoid situations and stimuli that she/he thinks triggered the flashback. What triggers post traumatic stress disorder? For people with PTSD, it is very common for their memories to be triggered by sights, sounds, smells or even feelings that they experience. These triggers can bring back memories of the trauma and cause intense emotional and physical reactions, such as raised heart rate, sweating and muscle tension. What smells have been triggers for you? As I was doing my research I came across a similar case, but what is so interesting isn’t the fact she has bits and pieces of her memory… https://www.wired.com/2016/04/susie-mckinnon-autobiographical-memory-sdam/ https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/MASH-Units-and-the-Creation-of-the-TV-Show-M-A-S-HHow Smell Unlocks Memory