If I pop a piece of Dubble Bubble in my mouth, I'll immediately feel sheepish, hyper, and full of laughter, because the gum sends me mentally time-traveling to a childhood car trip, the one where my sisters and I went through an entire bucket of Dubble Bubble in a remarkably short time. (In our defense, it loses its flavor instantly.) 

That's the madeleine effect at work. It's the way in which a certain smell, taste, or other sensory experience suddenly triggers a specific memory for you, especially a memory that's strong, clear, and emotional.

The experience goes by many other names, like "involuntary memory," "Proustian moment," and "Proustian memory." Most of these names refer to a moment from Marcel Proust's 1913 novel In Search of Lost Time, also translated as Remembrance of Things Past, when the narrator dunks a madeleine (a small, sweet French cake) into his tea:

"No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin.”

Notice how he experiences the emotion of the memory even before any of the factual details. That sense of emotion, especially nostalgia, is at the heart of the madeleine effect.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "Little Debbies have a madeleine effect on me."

Other forms: 

None are common.

You can use the singular noun "madeleine" to mean "the object or sensation that fills you with nostalgia," as in "Porter... [establishes] the beguine as a musical madeleine, the very playing of which brings back a night of tropical splendor (The New Yorker)."

how to use it:

The phrase "madeleine effect" has a loft, literary, tender tone.

It's very rare. But you can make its meaning clear to your readers or listeners in most situations, either by glossing it (explaining it as you use it) or by providing context.

You might talk about people who experience the madeleine effect, or about objects or sensations that exert the madeleine effect over us. Or, talk about times when the madeleine effect overwhelms you, engulfs you, takes you by surprise, etc.

examples:

"Spanish lentil soup – sopa de llenties. Seems to be a Sunday favourite. A serving of which has a certain petite madeleine effect on me, that takes me back to Barcelona."
   — Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro: Lifestyle Blog, 23 April 2017

"With this movie, Judd Apatow shows again that he is interested in a certain kind of male melancholy which can only be evoked by summoning up the music of his youth... Graham Parker & The Rumour, an exquisitely chosen band... they are a group whose madeleine effect will work on a worryingly small number of people."
   — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 14 February 2013

has this page helped you understand "madeleine effect"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "madeleine effect" without saying "sensory-induced time-travel" or "involuntary nostalgia."

try it out:

As we've seen, madeleines dunked in tea took Proust's narrator back to childhood Sunday mornings with his aunt, and a pink hunk of Dubble Bubble takes me back to a childhood trip. Here's one more example: a red poker chip tossed in the air takes the poet Kenneth Rexroth back to a childhood memory of his father.

With these examples in mind, talk about an object, a scent, a taste, or a sound that has a madeleine effect on you.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for May is "The Rock & Roll Hall of Game."

It’s inspired by a Jeopardy! category called Foodstock.

I'll give you a clue, and you'll try to come up with the tweaked name of a group or solo artist from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

For example, if I give you "They're an American boy band fond of surfing, California, rich vocal harmonies, and helping the Mario Brothers rescue the princess," then you give me "The Peach Boys" (a playful blend of "The Beach Boys" and "Princess Peach" from the Mario games).

Try this one today: These hard rockers with an appetite for destruction welcomed us to the jungle, where they had fun and games, especially the arcade game BurgerTime, in which they built burgers slice by slice.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. In its metaphorical sense, a madeleine could be the near-opposite of

A. a curse or evil spell.
B. a poem of celebration.
C. a window to the future.

2. The madeleine effect is a type of involuntary _____.

A. flashback
B. assumption
C. attribution

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. A Answer to the game question: Buns N' Roses.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.