Memories will be stronger if an unpleasant smell is associated with them, according to a new study. Scientists believe this discovery will expand our understanding of how Pavlov's response can be stimulated and how negative experiences affect our ability to recall past events. Explains Katherine Hartley, assistant professor of psychology at New York University and senior contributor to Learning and Memory:
Why are smells well remembered?
Everyone knows the effect of negative experiences on memory. For example, if you are bitten by a dog, you may have an unpleasant memory of the dog that bit you, and this negative association may spread to all dogs.
What's more, because of the bite-related injury, you are likely to have a stronger association with it than with other cases of dogs.
What does a “bad” smell consist of? This is partly subjective. During the experiment, scientists forced subjects to listen to various smells and note which ones they found unpleasant. The local perfumer gave off scents, mixtures of chemical compounds, including rotten fish and manure.
The scientists then showed pictures reinforced by the scent and measured the sweat in the palm of their hand as an indicator of arousal - a common research technique. The memory of the participants was checked every other day. Both adults and adolescents demonstrated a better memory of specific images when paired with foul odors.
Ilya Khel