It has long been known among neuroscientists like Jordan Gaines Lewis, PhD, who blogs about the brain at Gaines On Brains, that a particular scent can bring up strong emotions and memories. The anatomy of the brain makes smell perfect for bringing back a particularly happy (or unhappy) memory and the emotions tied to it, Dr. Gaines Lewis wrote at Psychology Today . The olfactory bulb, which processes smells, starts in the nose and runs along the bottom of the brain. Unlike the parts of the brain that process sound and images, the olfactory bulb has direct connections with the amygdala and hippocampus, two parts of the brain that "are strongly implicated in emotion and memory," she wrote. That's why the "piercingly fresh scent of snow" instantly transports Dr. Gaines Lewis to times when she'd go sledding as a child, and why others have connections to the smell of sprinklers on pavement , of freshly mown grass , or of spaghetti sauce . It might even explain why some people like scents that most others abhor. Take my aunt, for example. She'd take a big sniff every time the smell of skunk wafted into the car on road trips (while everyone else plugged their nose). I have no idea what happy memory she has attached to skunks, but who am I to judge?