Newswise — When searching for a meaningful Valentine's Day gift for an elderly friend or relative, don't settle on the same old box of candies again. Instead, consider highly fragrant items that bring back happy memories, suggest scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
The most ancient of our senses, smell is highly evocative because the brain connects odors to emotional memories.
"Odors can act as potent keys to open doors to the past," notes Pamela Dalton, PhD, a cognitive psychologist at Monell.
Dalton suggests taking a few minutes to think back on past conversations, trying to identify specific details mentioned about happy times or occasions. Then try to connect scents to those memories.
Or, off-handedly initiate a conversation to identify favorite smells and their emotional connections. Your great-aunt may mention lavender because it reminds her of a long-ago honeymoon spent in the south of France. Or your mother might wistfully talk about the smell of your father's after-shave.
"The more specific the connection between odor and experience the better," says Dalton, "because scent memories are very dependent on context."
Because of their strong connections with emotional memories, scented gifts might be especially appreciated by older adults who have impairment of other senses.
Scent-infused gifts for seniors can include fragrant flowers, scented lotions and personal care products, herbal pillows, or potpourri.
Whatever you choose, it's likely that your senior will appreciate a highly fragrant gift, advises Monell behavioral neuroscientist Charles J. Wysocki, PhD, who notes that the sense of smell declines with advancing age. "Seniors often rate odors as less intense than do younger people," says Wysocki, noting that this decline begins for some smells about age 40 and continues across ensuing decades.
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is a nonprofit basic research institute based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For 38 years, Monell has been the nation's leading research center focused on understanding the senses of smell, taste and chemical irritation: how they function and affect lives from before birth through old age. Using a multidisciplinary approach, scientists collaborate in the areas of: sensation and perception, neuroscience and molecular biology, environmental and occupational health, nutrition and appetite, health and well being, and chemical ecology and communication. For more information about Monell, please visit http://www.monell.org.
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