Olfactory cuing of autobiographical memory.

In Experiment 1, subjects were presented with either the odors or the names of 15 common objects. In Experiment 2, subjects were presented with either the odors, photographs, or names of 16 common objects. All subjects were asked to describe an autobiographical memory evoked by each cue, to date each memory, and to rate each memory on vividness, pleasantness, and the number of times that the memory had been thought of and talked about prior to the experiment. Compared with memories evoked by photographs or names, memories evoked by odors were reported to be thought of and talked about less often prior to the experiment and were more likely to be reported as never having been thought of or talked about prior to the experiment. No other effects were consistently found, though there was a suggestion that odors might evoke more pleasant and emotional memories than other types of cues. The relation of these results to the folklore concerning olfactory cuing is discussed.

[1]  W. Cain,et al.  Olfactory testing: rules for odor identification. , 1979, Neurological research.

[2]  N. Butters,et al.  Psychophysical scaling of olfactory, visual, and auditory stimuli by alchoholic Korsakoff patients , 1975, Neuropsychologia.

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

[4]  W. A. Wickelgren.  Single-trace fragility theory of memory dynamics , 1974, Memory & cognition.

[5]  N. Butters,et al.  An assessment of olfactory deficits in patients with damage to prefrontal cortex , 1980, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  David C. Rubin,et al.  On the retention function for autobiographical memory , 1982 .

[7]  C J Herrick,et al.  The Functions of the Olfactory Parts of the Cerebral Cortex. , 1933, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[8]  B. Patten.  MODALITY SPECIFIC MEMORY DISORDERS IN MAN , 1972, Acta neurologica Scandinavica.

[9]  D. Holding,et al.  Personal Memories at Different Ages , 1977 .

[10]  T. Engen,et al.  Associations to odors: interference, mnemonics, and verbal labeling. , 1977, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[11]  J. A. Robinson,et al.  Sampling autobiographical memory , 1976, Cognitive Psychology.

[12]  W. Cain,et al.  RECOGNITION MEMORY FOR ODORS , 1975 .

[13]  E. Schachtel.  On memory and childhood amnesia. , 1947, Psychiatry.

[14]  L. Petrinovich,et al.  Probabilistic functionalism: a conception of research method. , 1979, The American psychologist.

[15]  B. Underwood,et al.  Some verbal materials for the study of concept formation. , 1956, Psychological bulletin.

[16]  Gary K. Beauchamp,et al.  The human capacity to transmit olfactory information , 1974 .

[17]  D. Rubin.  Norms for 34 properties of 125 words , 1981 .

[18]  David C. Rubin,et al.  51 properties of 125 words: A unit analysis of verbal behavior , 1980 .

[19]  John Garcia,et al.  Learning with prolonged delay of reinforcement , 1966 .

[20]  B M Ross,et al.  Long-term memory of odors with and without verbal descriptions. , 1973, Journal of experimental psychology.

[21]  Sampling autobiographical memory reports in adolescents. , 1980 .

[22]  N. Butters,et al.  Olfactory discrimination in alcoholic korsakoff patients , 1975, Neuropsychologia.

[23]  Acquisition of verbal associations to olfactory stimuli of varying familiarity and to abstract visual stimuli. , 1975, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[24]  Trygg Engen,et al.  The perception of odors , 1982 .

[25]  Herbert F. Crovitz,et al.  Frequency of episodic memories as a function of their age , 1974 .

[26]  J. Eich.  Fragrances as cues for remembering words , 1978 .

[27]  E. Holman,et al.  Similarity judgments and recognition memory for some common spices , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.

[28]  Endel Tulving,et al.  Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. , 1973 .

[29]  D. Laird,et al.  What Can You Do With Your Nose , 1935 .

[30]  Edward Bradford Titchener,et al.  Experimental psychology: A manual of laboratory practice, Vol 1: Qualitative experiments: Part II. Instructor's manual. , 1901 .

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