Web Desk: Ever wonder how you retain memories of your favorite scents? Scientists have found that a brain area ‘the piriform cortex’ is responsible for creating memories from smell as well as retaining those memories even year later.

Christina Strauch from the Ruhr-University-Bochum in Germany, said, “It is known that the piriform cortex is able to temporarily store olfactory to long-term memories as well.”

This study was published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, the scientists wondered whether the piriform cortex needs to be instructed to create a long-term memory.

Later it stimulated a higher brain area called orbitofrontal cortex, which responsible for the discrimination of sensory experiences.

“Our study shows that the piriform cortex indeed able to serve as an archive for long-term memories. Bit it needs instruction from the oritofrontal cortex, a higher brain area, indicating that an event is to be stored as a long-term memory,” Strauch added.