Smelling a candle, tasting a piece of candy, or seeing a toy or a TV show brings nostalgia for a lot of people. But what is nostalgia? Why do we feel it, and why does it affect us the way it does?
Child Development teacher Shea Bender says the part of the brain where nostalgia comes from is the hippocampus, which is responsible for converting short-term memories to the long term.
“Think of the movie ‘Inside Out’; It’s directly connected to memories, including those we may find nostalgic,” Bender said.
Is nostalgia one feeling or sense? Or is it multiple at the same time? Hepper, Ritchie, Sedikides, and Wildschuti described nostalgia as a fond memory from someone’s past and brings emotions of longing and sadness mixed with happiness and other emotions. When you’re nostalgic you can feel “an overall sense of bittersweetness.”
“I don’t think there is one particular sense that brings more nostalgia than another,” Bender said, “but a variety of senses,.”
But why can nostalgia have such a big effect on us?
“In my opinion, nostalgia has a significant impact on us because it is directly connected to our emotions,” Bender said. “[Emotions] allow us to connect with each other, establish a sense of self-esteem, [and] help us feel as though we are loved and belong.”
Bender thinks nostalgia is good for us to experience even though we may not always feel comfortable about it. Sometimes we may get nostalgic and it could bring us to a time when we did something embarrassing or awkward.
“Because nostalgia can allow us to form connections as well as learn new things,” Bender said, “I would say it is good for us to experience.”
Sophomore Jesse Leffler thinks nostalgia has such a big effect on us because it brings us back to a moment when we liked something and makes us miss it.
“I think it’s because a lot of times nostalgia is something you like,” Leffler said, “And I feel like it might be a sense of missing it and waiting to feel it again.” Leffler also said for him, smells can be very nostalgic.
“I’ll just be walking down candle aisles in the store and I’ll smell something that’ll bring me back to my childhood,” Leffler said.
Freshman Hudson Vandenbos said there is a chance nostalgia affects us so greatly because it brings us back to a happy time.
“It reminds us of a nice memory,” Vandenbos said. Vandenbos explained that some things that can be nostalgic for him are sounds or objects.
“The connections our brains make can be pretty amazing! Nostalgia can bring us back to a time where we saw something, heard something, tasted, smelled, and felt something that triggered a memory,” said Bender.
