Learn about why smells trigger such vivid memories; why an ancient tree is changing our understanding of how trees evolved; and how you can find out if you suffer from impostor syndrome, along with ways to get over it. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: Here's Why Smells Trigger Such Vivid Memories — https://curiosity.im/2JaLYKn The World's First Trees Didn't Have Rings — https://curiosity.im/2GApJM3 Find Out If You Suffer from Impostor Syndrome With This Research-Backed Quiz — https://curiosity.im/2J2hREI If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about why smells trigger such vivid memories; why an ancient tree is changing our understanding of how trees evolved; and how you can find out if you suffer from impostor syndrome, along with ways to get over it.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/why-smells-trigger-vivid-memories-test-your-impostor-syndrome-and-trees-without-rings
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why smells trigger such vivid memories; why an ancient tree is changing our understanding of how trees evolved; and how you can find out if you suffer from impostor syndrome, along with ways to get over it.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Here's Why Smells Trigger Such Vivid Memories — https://curiosity.im/2JaLYKn (Ashley)
Smells have a stronger link to memory and emotion than any of the other senses, and neuroscience may know the reason why. We touched on the link between smell and memory in the first podcast we EVER posted back in 2017, but today we thought we’d give a refresher on why smells trigger such vivid memories. [ad lib]
ASHLEY: Smells get processed kinda differently than your other senses. When you see, hear, touch, or taste something, that sensory information first heads to the thalamus. That’s like your brain's relay station. The thalamus then sends that information to the relevant brain areas, including the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, and the amygdala, which does the emotional processing. But with smells, it's different. Scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the brain's smell center, which is known as the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which might explain why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion. And in 2017, scientists discovered something even wilder about the processes that make odor-linked memories so vivid: The memories may be saved in a part of the olfactory bulb itself. The part responsible is a complex structure called the piriform cortex. The piriform cortex connects to all sorts of places in the brain, including a higher-level structure called the orbitofrontal cortex. This structure is generally responsible for making judgments about sensory input: this sweater feels good, touch it again; that week-old Chinese food smells off, don't eat it. The researchers found that the piriform cortex is able to serve as an archive for long-term memories, but it needs instructions from the orbitofrontal cortex to let it know that an event should be stored as a long-term memory. So not only does your brain's smell center connect right to its memory center, but it also stores long-term memories in-house. Which means that you should go ahead and take a nice long whiff of that old bottle of perfume, or the paperbacks in that used bookstore. The memories that come flooding back to you are a happy side effect of the way your brain is wired.
The World's First Trees Didn't Have Rings — https://curiosity.im/2GApJM3 (Cody)
Scientists found a 374-million-year-old-tree that has completely changed our understanding of how trees evolved. That’s because the trunk of the tree didn’t have rings. ANY rings. If you grew up knowing that you can tell how old a tree is by counting its rings, then you can probably see why this discovery was a bit… puzzling. [ad lib]
CODY: In May 2017, a team of researchers announced that the trunk of an ancient tree found in northwest China that’s the ancestor of modern trees and ferns looks like nothing like the trees of today. Tree rings are composed of a tissue called xylem [ZYE-lum], which moves water from a tree's roots to its tips. In most trees, xylem grows in a single cylinder just under the bark. New wood grows on top of that, and the tree gets ever bigger in a predictable yearly cycle. Side note: palm trees don't have rings. Their xylem grows in strands, which is why a cross-section of a palm tree is covered in dots instead of rings. But back to THIS ancient tree fossil. Instead of growing xylem in yearly rings or in strands distributed throughout, this tree grew narrow strands in the outer five centimeters of its trunk, connected together in a web formation. That means that instead of rings, the cross-section of this fossil is covered in what looks like Dalmatian spots. Each of those spots, or strands, grew its own xylem rings, creating what was essentially tree trunks growing within a tree trunk. As those interconnected mini-trees got bigger, their connections split apart and repaired themselves to keep the tree from breaking under its own weight. What you end up with was a huge tree with a flat base and a bulbous trunk. It’s like the tree ripped its skeleton apart and collapsed under its own weight at the same time, all while staying allive and growing upwards and outwards. And it’s unusual for evolution (but not unheard of) that these trees aren't any less complicated than modern ones. Why would the oldest trees use such a complex growth strategy? To answer this question, the researchers will need to find more fossils just as well-preserved as this one.
Find Out If You Suffer from Impostor Syndrome With This Research-Backed Quiz — https://curiosity.im/2J2hREI (Ashley)
We’ve talked about Impostor Syndrome on this podcast before, and today, we’ve got a research-backed quiz you can take to find out if you suffer from it. [ad lib / we both took the test and we’ll let you know how we did in a minute]
ASHLEY: But first let’s back up with a quick refresher on Impostor Syndrome. In the 1970s, a pair of clinical psychologists named Dr. Pauline Rose Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes interviewed dozens of successful women — and noticed something strange. Even though on paper, these people had achieved success, they admitted to a fear that they'd gotten there through luck or by mistake. Clance and Imes named this feeling "impostor syndrome." One professor told them, quote, "I'm not good enough to be on the faculty here. Some mistake was made in the selection process," unquote. Another woman with two master's degrees and a Ph.D. told the researchers that she felt unqualified to teach remedial college classes in her area of expertise. Later research found that it’s not just women who feel this way. For example, a 1985 study of academics found that the male participants actually had higher scores of impostor syndrome than female participants. And a study last year found that while men and women both experience the phenomenon, they react differently to it. So why do people with such objectively successful lives feel like such frauds, and are some people more likely to feel that way than others? Clance has found that both personality and upbringing can have an effect. People who exhibit more introversion, anxiety, shame, and a need to look smart to other people are more likely to experience impostor syndrome. Likewise, being raised by overprotective, unsupportive parents can have an effect as well. For women, an excessive focus on gender roles can also make the problem worse. If this all sounds familiar and you want to find out if you suffer from impostor syndrome, then you can check out the Impostor Syndrome Scale on Dr. Pauline Rose Clance’s website. We’ve got a link to it in our full write-up on this, which you can read on curiosity-dot-com and on our free Curiosity app for Android and iOS, with a link in today’s show notes. And if you get a high score, then here are three tips for how you should cope with your feelings. First, normalize the feeling. There's nothing wrong with you if you feel like a fraud, and like I just told you, a LOT of accomplished people feel the same way you do. Second, examine your definition of what it means to be competent and what it means to fail. You may find that you have unreasonable requirements for yourself that you don't place on the people around you. Third, think about other reasons you might be feeling this way. Success can be scary, after all. Sometimes feelings of fear and self-doubt just means you’re aware of the other side of success. Good luck!
“After taking the Impostor Test, add together the numbers of the responses to each statement. If the total score is 40 or less, the respondent has few Impostor characteristics; if the score is between 41 and 60, the respondent has moderate IP experiences; a score between 61 and 80 means the respondent frequently has Impostor feelings; and a score higher than 80 means the
respondent often has intense IP experiences. The higher the score, the more frequently and seriously the Impostor Phenomenon interferes in a person’s life.”
CODY: Read about today’s stories and more on curiosity-dot-com!
ASHLEY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!