The examination of odors and olfactory imagery as memory retrieval cues utilizing the encoding specificity principle
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: In the present study, the encoding specificity principle was utilized to examine if odors and olfactory imagery, which is mentally imaging odors, can be used as memory retrieval cues. It was predicted that odors could be effectively used as memory retrieval cues, and that those with high olfactory imagery abilities would be able to use olfactory imagery as memory retrieval cues similar to odors. A mixed-subjects factorial design was used to measure participants??? performance on a recall task in one of three conditions: odor, imagery, and control. Prior to the experiment beginning, the participants completed an olfactory imagery measure to determine if they were a high olfactory imager or a low olfactory imager. It was hypothesized that (1) participants in the odor condition would perform better on the recall task than the participants in the control condition, (2) high olfactory imagers in the imagery condition would perform better on the recall task than the low imagers in the imagery condition, and (3) high olfactory imagers would perform the same on the recall task in the imagery condition as the participants in the odor condition. Results showed that low imagers performed better on the recall task regardless of which condition they were in.
Author: Cowan, Cory
Institution: California State University, Fresno
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Academy of Finland
OpenAlex ID: W7000369580