How good is your olfactory memory?

People have the tendency to underrate the importance of odours, and the sense of smell is considered insignificant compared to sight, hearing or touch. Although only few people use the sense of smell consciously, for example during their work, it plays a far greater role in your life than you might think at first. Our sense of smell can provide a great deal of help – although not consciously – in our everyday orientation and decisions, and the identification of scents has a great deal of importance so it's no coincidence that the sense of smell is heightened during expectancy.

Smells help us recognise fresh food, and even after many decades, good and bad memories can be tied to various odours, while a good sense of smell can save lives: just think of the ability of recognising the smell of smoke or gas in time. Scents help develop the bonding between a mother and a newborn baby and almost everyone can recognise the smell of their immediate relatives.

I'm sure you've already noticed how smells can turn old memories into a tangible reality, just like tastes: your favourite dishes, childhood Christmases, the smell of lakes and salty sea air, or the soap or lavender-scented air of your grandmother's wardrobe can instantly change your mood. If necessary, you could instantly list dozens of pleasant and unpleasant odours that evoke certain memories and moods, even though it would be challenging to name all of them.

What about natural fragrances which don't influence us through our memories? How do they work and why is it that we feel like lavender helps us relax and ease up and citrusy scents refresh us? We know very little about this and it's possible that these are partly "learned" processes, yet it's also possible that scents really do have a direct effect on our nervous system.

We also have very little information on how the artificial smells surrounding us affect our health and mood. They have multiple effects on us and can cause headaches for people sensitive to them or even influence our mood just like real scents. Unfortunately, many people can't distinguish the multitude of artificial smells from "real" scents and essential oils made from natural plant ingredients, but if you carefully study the labels of goods, you can see whether they contain perfumes, fragrances or real essential oils.