Scent-evoked nostalgia

TLDR

Scents may evoke nostalgia, prompting inquiry into their psychological implications. Participants sampled 12 scents and rated each for familiarity, arousal, autobiographic relevance, and nostalgia. High nostalgia proneness amplified scent‑evoked nostalgia, which in turn boosted positive affect, self‑esteem, self‑continuity, optimism, social connectedness, meaning in life, and in‑moment personal nostalgia, and was linked to more positive emotions than non‑nostalgic memories.

Abstract

Can scents evoke nostalgia; what might be the psychological implications of such an evocation? Participants sampled 12 scents and rated the extent to which each scent was familiar, arousing and autobiographically relevant, as well as the extent to which each scent elicited nostalgia. Participants who were high (compared to low) in nostalgia proneness reported more scent-evoked nostalgia, and scents elicited greater nostalgia to the extent that they were arousing, familiar and autobiographically relevant. Scent-evoked nostalgia predicted higher levels of positive affect, self-esteem, self-continuity, optimism, social connectedness and meaning in life. In addition, scent-evoked nostalgia was characterised by more positive emotions than either non-nostalgic autobiographical memories or non-nostalgic non-autobiographical memories. Finally, scent-evoked nostalgia predicted in-the-moment feelings of personal (general or object-specific) nostalgia. The findings represent a foray into understanding the triggers and affective signature of scent-evoked nostalgia.