What is a word for stimulation of memory, such as smell or taste?

Answer 1

I believe the term you are looking for is "involuntary memory" sometimes referred to as "Proustian memory". Involuntary memory is a conception of human memory in which sensual stimulus plays a crucial role in evoking recollections without conscious effort. Its binary opposite is voluntary memory, a deliberate effort to recall the past.

This is a term coined by the French author Marcel Proust. The most famous instance of involuntary memory in Proust is known as the "episode of the madeleine," whereby the main character of Proust's novel "In Search Of Lost Time" bites into a madelaine cake, sips lime tea and is instantly transported into his past.

Answer 2

I think "stimulating the memory," means...to recall, or to remember.

verb
To renew an image or thought in the mind: bethink, mind, recall, recollect, reminisce, retain, revive, think. Idiom: bring to mind.


* using this choice of possible synonyms, I would probably use...REVIVE or REMINISCE since the smell or taste already existed in the past.

Answer 3

I don't think there is a single word in English.
The scent of a batch of hot oatmeal-raisin cookies has the power to make me remember myself as child in my Grandma's kitchen. The smell of a box of new crayons brings me back to Miss Ritter's kindergarden class....
In scientific circles, it's referred to as "olfactory-induced memory", but I doubt that's what you're looking for.

Answer 4

The smell and taste recollection appertaining to memories are called the olfactory senses

Answer 5

It is called stimulation and it is caused by a stimulus or stimuli.

Answer 6

I believe it is sense memory.

Answer 7

recollection - (to recall a memory)

.

Answer 8

Could be a stirring