Olfactory working memory: effects of verbalization on the 2-back task

Working memory for odors, which has received almost no attention in the literature, was investigated in two experiments. We show that performance in a 2-back task with odor stimuli is well above chance. This is true not only for highly familiar odors, as has been shown by Dade, Zatorre, Evans, and Jones-Gotman, NeuroImage, 14, 650–660, (2001), but also for unfamiliar ones that are notoriously difficult to name. We can conclude that information about an olfactory stimulus can be retained in the short term and can continuously be updated for comparison with new olfactory probes along the lines of a functional odor working memory. However, the performance in the working memory task is highly dependent on participants’ verbalization of the odor. In addition, results indicated that odor working memory performance is dependent on the ability to discriminate among the odor stimuli (Experiment 2). The results are discussed in relation to recent ideas of a separate olfactory working memory slave system.

[1]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  A non-parametric analysis of recognition experiments , 1964 .

[2]  P D Eimas,et al.  Short-term memory of odors. , 1973, Journal of experimental psychology.

[3]  W S Cain,et al.  To know with the nose: keys to odor identification. , 1979, Science.

[4]  W. Cain,et al.  Olfactory functioning in temporal lobectomy patients , 1983, Neuropsychologia.

[5]  W S Cain,et al.  Odor recognition: familiarity, identifiability, and encoding consistency. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[6]  Mark A. McDaniel,et al.  Effects of Encoding Strategy on Long-Term Memory for Odours , 1986 .

[7]  T. Engen.  Remembering Odors and Their Names , 1987 .

[8]  M. D. Rabin.  Experience facilitates olfactory quality discrimination , 1988, Perception & psychophysics.

[9]  Mark A. McDaniel,et al.  Memory for odors and odor names : Modalities of elaboration and imagery , 1990 .

[10]  R. G. Crowder,et al.  Memory for Odors , 1991 .

[11]  W. Cain,et al.  Sensory and semantic factors in recognition memory for odors and graphic stimuli: elderly versus young persons. , 1991, The American journal of psychology.

[12]  Richard L. Doty,et al.  The Human Sense of Smell , 2011, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[13]  W. Cain,et al.  Odor quality: Discrimination versus free and cued identification , 1994, Perception & psychophysics.

[14]  S. Rajaram.  PERCEPTUAL EFFECTS ON REMEMBERING : RECOLLECTIVE PROCESSES IN PICTURE RECOGNITION MEMORY , 1996 .

[15]  T. Engen,et al.  Odor memory: Review and analysis , 1996, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[16]  Mari Backman,et al.  Age-related differences in episodic odour recognition: the role of access to specific odour names. , 1997 .

[17]  T. White.  Olfactory memory: the long and short of it. , 1998, Chemical senses.

[18]  M. Treisman,et al.  Phonological and perceptual components of short-term memory for odors. , 1998, The American journal of psychology.

[19]  C. S. Lin,et al.  Increased brain activation in response to odors in patients with hyposmia after theophylline treatment demonstrated by fMRI. , 1998, Journal of computer assisted tomography.

[20]  W. Cain,et al.  Odor identification: perceptual and semantic dimensions. , 1998, Chemical senses.

[21]  H Stanislaw,et al.  Calculation of signal detection theory measures , 1999, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[22]  A. Baddeley.  The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory? , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[23]  W. Cain,et al.  Quantification of odor quality. , 2000, Chemical senses.

[24]  W. Cain,et al.  Psychometrics of odor quality discrimination: method for threshold determination. , 2000, Chemical senses.

[25]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Working Memory in Another Dimension: Functional Imaging of Human Olfactory Working Memory , 2001, NeuroImage.

[26]  L. Bäckman,et al.  Differential sex effects in olfactory functioning: The role of verbal processing , 2002, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

[27]  Anne M Cleary,et al.  Recognition with and without identification: Dissociative effects of meaningful encoding , 2002, Memory & cognition.

[28]  S. Issanchou,et al.  Selection of odorants for memory tests on the basis of familiarity, perceived complexity, pleasantness, similarity and identification. , 2002, Chemical senses.

[29]  Do age differences in odour memory depend on differences in verbal memory? , 2004, Neuroreport.

[30]  Mats J Olsson,et al.  A metamemory perspective on odor naming and identification. , 2005, Chemical senses.

[31]  Kathryn M. McMillan,et al.  N‐back working memory paradigm: A meta‐analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies , 2005, Human brain mapping.

[32]  Gordon D. A. Brown,et al.  SIMPLE: Further Applications of A Local Distinctiveness Model of Memory , 2006 .

[33]  Christina Öberg,et al.  Recollective experience in odor recognition: Influences of adult age and familiarity , 2006, Psychological research.

[34]  Donald A. Wilson,et al.  Learning to Smell: Olfactory Perception from Neurobiology to Behavior , 2006 .

[35]  Gordon D. A. Brown,et al.  A temporal ratio model of memory. , 2007, Psychological review.

[36]  D. Hay,et al.  Serial position effects in short-term visual memory: A SIMPLE explanation? , 2007, Memory & cognition.

[37]  J. Andrade,et al.  EVIDENCE FOR AN OLFACTORY STORE IN WORKING MEMORY , 2007 .

[38]  Andrew R. A. Conway,et al.  Working memory, attention control, and the N-back task: a question of construct validity. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[39]  D. Valentin,et al.  Expertise and memory for beers and beer olfactory compounds , 2007 .

[40]  N. Sobel,et al.  Working memory across nostrils. , 2008, Behavioral neuroscience.

[41]  Noah A. Shamosh,et al.  Individual Differences in Delay Discounting , 2008, Psychological science.

[42]  Mikael Johansson,et al.  Odor Memory Performance and Memory Awareness: A Comparison to Word Memory Across Orienting Tasks and Retention Intervals , 2009 .

[43]  C. Zelano,et al.  A Specialized Odor Memory Buffer in Primary Olfactory Cortex , 2009, PloS one.

[44]  D. Bowers,et al.  Is the n-back task a valid neuropsychological measure for assessing working memory? , 2009, Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists.

[45]  Andrew J. Johnson,et al.  Short Article: Single-probe serial position recall: Evidence of modularity for olfactory, visual, and auditory short-term memory , 2009, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[46]  Ulman Lindenberger,et al.  Complex span versus updating tasks of working memory: the gap is not that deep. , 2009, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[47]  S. Jaeggi,et al.  The concurrent validity of the N-back task as a working memory measure , 2010, Memory.