Proust Effect

The senses can be powerful triggers for memories of our past eliciting a range of both positive and negative emotions. The smell or taste of a long forgotten sweet can stimulate a rich emotional response connected to our childhood or a piece of music transport us back to our adolescence. Sense memories can be linked to all the senses - sound vision and even touch can also trigger intense and emotional memories of our past. <p/>In The Proust Effect we learn about why sense memories are special how they work in the brain how they can enrich our daily life and even how they can help those suffering from problems involving memory. A sense memory can be evoked by a smell a taste a flavor a touch a sound a melody a color or a picture or by some other involuntary sensory stimulus. Any of these can triggers a vivid emotional reliving of a forgotten event in the past. <p/>Exploring the senses in thought-provoking scientific experiments and artistic projects this fascinating book offers new insights into memory - drawn from neuroscience the arts and professions such as education elderly care health care therapy and the culinary profession.