9. Odor memory
-
Gesualdo M. Zucco
Abstract
Olfactory memory has some important distinguishing characteristics which may suggest its uniqueness in cognition. Evidence to support this hypothesis is the following: (a) odor memory is only slightly affected by the length of the retention intervals; (b) it is very resistant to retroactive interference (i.e., to forgetting produced by subsequent learning experiences); (c) odor memory presents a lower initial acquisition level compared to visual and verbal material (this led some authors to assume that odors are represented in memory as distinctive events and learned in an all or none fashion); (d) the relationship between odorants and words seems to be very weak; (e) no differences appear in recognition tasks for odorants learned intentionally or incidentally; (f) neither strategies nor interferences seem to affect recognition memory for odorants. Such peculiarities of odor memory will be discussed and tentatively integrated in a single model. The main assumption is that people lack a conscious representation for odorants, which are stored in memory at an implicit – unconscious – level of knowledge.
Abstract
Olfactory memory has some important distinguishing characteristics which may suggest its uniqueness in cognition. Evidence to support this hypothesis is the following: (a) odor memory is only slightly affected by the length of the retention intervals; (b) it is very resistant to retroactive interference (i.e., to forgetting produced by subsequent learning experiences); (c) odor memory presents a lower initial acquisition level compared to visual and verbal material (this led some authors to assume that odors are represented in memory as distinctive events and learned in an all or none fashion); (d) the relationship between odorants and words seems to be very weak; (e) no differences appear in recognition tasks for odorants learned intentionally or incidentally; (f) neither strategies nor interferences seem to affect recognition memory for odorants. Such peculiarities of odor memory will be discussed and tentatively integrated in a single model. The main assumption is that people lack a conscious representation for odorants, which are stored in memory at an implicit – unconscious – level of knowledge.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- 1. Speaking of colors and odors 1
- 2. Color smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language 19
- 3. How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system 35
- 4. Color perception, color description and metaphor 61
- 5. Attractiveness and adornment 85
- 6. Color terms between elegance and beauty. The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics 113
- 7. Color names and dynamic imagery 129
- 8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English 141
- 9. Odor memory 155
- 10. From psychophysics to semiophysics 167
- 11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement 185
- 12. Understanding synesthetic expressions 203
- 13. Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization 227
- Contributors 239
- Index 241
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- 1. Speaking of colors and odors 1
- 2. Color smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language 19
- 3. How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system 35
- 4. Color perception, color description and metaphor 61
- 5. Attractiveness and adornment 85
- 6. Color terms between elegance and beauty. The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics 113
- 7. Color names and dynamic imagery 129
- 8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English 141
- 9. Odor memory 155
- 10. From psychophysics to semiophysics 167
- 11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement 185
- 12. Understanding synesthetic expressions 203
- 13. Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization 227
- Contributors 239
- Index 241
