The Proust effect : the senses as doorways to lost memories / Cretien van Campen ; translated by Julian Ross.

Translated from Dutch to English.

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. 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 flavour, a touch, a sound, a melody, a colour 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. 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--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-171) and index.

Print version record.

Cover -- THE PROUST EFFECT: THE SENSES AS DOORWAYS TO LOST MEMORIES -- Copyright -- Contents -- 1 A memory of the senses: Introduction -- PART I: Art -- 2 The Proust effect: The dual effect of opening lost memories and bringing joy -- 3 The power of fragrances: Smell memories in literary fiction and culinaria -- 4 Listening to 'my generation': Musical memories by pop songs -- 5 The art of memory: Visual memories through paintings, television, and video art -- PART II: Science -- 6 The hippocampus of Proust: The making of sense memories in the brain -- 7 Nabokov as a toddler in St Petersburg: Stories of the origins of sense memories in childhood -- 8 The little bricoleur: How children create eidetic andsynaesthetic memories -- PART III: Practice -- 9 Do sense memories make you happier?: Personal well-being, aromatherapy, and taste lessons in school -- 10 Uplifting musical memories: People with depression, dementia, and care for older people -- 11 Remembering 20,000 digits of pi: How memory artists use sense memories -- 12 How people colour their past: Synaesthesia or how the senses colour present and past -- 13 Enjoying sense memories: Concluding remarks -- Appendix on the neuropsychology of the memory of the senses -- Glossary -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Plates.

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