Scent is important to memory, but it pulls up more unconscious memories (feelings) than events. The feelings, combined with the smell, then usually are what pulls up the events.
Most of my early-childhood memories are vision-based. The sight of daffodils, a certain grass blend in clear sunlight, the sun on the wood floor underneath the dining table, light through a sliding glass door, the way the light looks through a wave (I got rolled in one)... My Little Ponies, Ninja Turtles, Capri Sun packets, red car interiors, legos, sand mixed with grass, cinderblock walls. These are all memories from age six and before, and they're all primarily sight-oriented... silent, scentless, and sometimes secondarily associated with touch or taste (like the red grapes eaten inside that red car); sometimes digging deeper at the memory will pull up more but I can never be sure if it's modern knowledge going back and filling in the gaps for what I know to have happened.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-06-02 08:12 am (UTC)Most of my early-childhood memories are vision-based. The sight of daffodils, a certain grass blend in clear sunlight, the sun on the wood floor underneath the dining table, light through a sliding glass door, the way the light looks through a wave (I got rolled in one)... My Little Ponies, Ninja Turtles, Capri Sun packets, red car interiors, legos, sand mixed with grass, cinderblock walls. These are all memories from age six and before, and they're all primarily sight-oriented... silent, scentless, and sometimes secondarily associated with touch or taste (like the red grapes eaten inside that red car); sometimes digging deeper at the memory will pull up more but I can never be sure if it's modern knowledge going back and filling in the gaps for what I know to have happened.