A new study from the University of Pittsburgh found that smells affect people more than we think they do. Researchers have actually found that certain smells can make people think of good things, which may help depressed people fight off bad thoughts.
As part of the research, 12 different smells were put on 32 people with major depressive episodes between the ages of 18 and 55 to see how they responded. Some of the smells were coconut oil, cumin, red wine, vanilla extract, clove bulbs, shoe polish, orange essential oil, and coffee.
What the study found was that people remembered a smell better than they remembered it. They also discovered that memories brought back by smells were more “vivid, immersive, and real.”
The study’s lead author, Kimberly Young, said, “It surprised me that no one had thought to use smell cues to look at memory recall in depressed people before.”
It was the study itself that activated the amygdala, the brain area that makes you ready to fight or run away. It can also be set off by smell, which in this case helped bring back memories of those smells.
Young said that helping depressed people remember things better can help them get better faster. She said, “If we can improve memory, we can improve problem-solving, controlling emotions, and other problems that depressed people often have.” She plans to use a brain scanner to help prove her idea that the smell does, in fact, make the amygdala fire.
