In the 1913 novel Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, the narrator bit a madeleine cake dipped in tea and the flavor triggered a vivid memory. The madeleine became a symbol in the story for memory and nostalgia, and the term madeleine de Proust is still used to describe a smell, sound or taste that sparks a forgotten memory.
Scientists continue to learn how the brain stores and retrieves memories using brain mapping technology. And they have long suspected that several regions of the brain work together in memory making and recall.
It’s not just a few areas of the brain working together though, a research team at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently found. Rather, hundreds of regions are involved in the memory process. Most of these regions are understudied, and the team is calling on other scientists to broaden their research and head into uncharted territory.
