How can an environmental stimulus(such as a smell or sound of music) stimulate powerful emotional memory?

Answer 1

i guess its because you relate a memory with something like that and it gets tucked in the back of your head. and when something stimulates your memory like that the thing that you relate it to comes out

Answer 2

Thoughts can create grooves in our brain- and some extreme stimuli can create stronger grooves and stronger relationships. There is something called a taste aversion which is a very strong connection that is very difficult to reverse. The interesting thing about taste aversion is that if you get horribly sick after dinner- you may not connect it to the skittles you just ate, but the potatoes you had at lunch. We can be choosy
The same thing can happen with phobias. There's a story of a bird that died that a little girl went to outside to touch. Her mom freaked out and from then on she had a fear of birds. The reason is that it is such a strong connection.

Answer 3

Go Zoey you already put the best answer and it is not a brain disease it is a memory from the subconscious or a perception from a situation that you may be in at the time and the right music, words, image, or pictures strike that chord! Probably need to vote for Zoey this time I already gave her a thumbs up and can't do any better then she did with this! Great job Zoey! Way to go! You might also take into consideration consonance and dissonance and lightness and darkness and textures, but Zoey hit it on the nail.

Answer 4

The stimuli must be paired with an event and whatever was experienced with that event (e.g. sadness, anger, etc...). The stimulus then become a cue, triggering that memorable moment. Cues are also stored in your memory.