A new Northwestern Medicine paper is the first to identify a neural basis for how the brain enables odors to so powerfully elicit those memories. The paper shows unique connectivity between the hippocampus — the seat of memory in the brain — and olfactory areas in humans.
This new research suggests a neurobiological basis for privileged access by olfaction to memory areas in the brain. The study compares connections between primary sensory areas — including visual, auditory, touch and smell — and the hippocampus. It found olfaction has the strongest connectivity. It’s like a superhighway from smell to the hippocampus.
“During evolution, humans experienced a profound expansion of the neocortex that re-organized access to memory networks,” said lead investigator Christina Zelano, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Vision,…
