Integrating the Sense of Smell in an Educational Human-Computer Interface

Although audio-visual information has been successfully employed in educational technology, the sense of smell has not generally been considered for integrat ion into human-computer interfaces for education. Olfactory information, however, can se rve to complement or supplement learner auditory, visual or tactile channels. Al though many general studies exist about how the sense of smell contributes t o cognition and affection, little work has been done on how it affects computer learning or how it can be incorporated into interfaces. To explore these questions, a usability study was carried out with engineering students, to see if mint odor assists memor ization and information recall during and after reading an educational Web page. Results shown recall improvement when using the odor, and students enjoyed the usability study.