Olfactory remembrance happens when a smell triggers a memory so immediate and vital that it could feel like a person has gone back in time. Neuroscience tells us why this happens. Smells travel through the olfactory bulb in front of the brain, so it’s close to the organ that sends messages to the rest of the body. Additionally, scents have a fast path to places like the nearby amygdala and hippocampus, which are parts of the brain that deal with emotions and memory.

Question

An example: when I was a young girl, I sat on the ground behind the towering lilac bush that grew on the side of our modest ranch house in Illinois. I imagined the branches were tendrils of a giant sea creature, octopuslike and hulking; it would barrel me along from one adventure to another in oily depths of the ocean. Today, when I smell lilacs as an adult, I’m immediately thrust into the past, my childhood home and the lilac bush, where the day stretched before me like a dream that lasts and lasts.

Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

The sentence “Neuroscience tells us why this happens” displays what type of tone for the entire passage?

(1 point)
Responses

formal yet lighthearted
formal yet lighthearted

formal yet conversational
formal yet conversational

informal yet demanding
informal yet demanding

informal yet scientific
informal yet scientific

Answer 1

The sentence “Neuroscience tells us why this happens” displays a tone that is formal yet conversational for the entire passage. This is because the sentence uses a formal subject (neuroscience) while also presenting the information in a way that feels accessible and relatable to the reader, matching the overall reflective and personal nature of the passage.