Olfaction and emotion: The case of autobiographical memory

Willander, Johan; Larsson, Maria

doi:10.3758/bf03193499

Cited by 157 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Error bars indicate ±1 standard error than memories associated with words only. However, in contrast to odor-evoked memories, autobiographical information evoked by olfactory imagery was not experienced as more emotional, pleasant, or associated with stronger feelings of being brought back in time (Herz and Cupchik 1995;Willander and Larsson 2007). This outcome suggests that olfactory imagery influences temporal but not experiential qualities of retrieved autobiographical memory information.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 74%

“…For events evoked by words or pictures, the bump is typically located in young adulthood (15-25 years; e.g., Conway and Haque 1999;Rubin 1982;Rubin et al 1998;Rubin and Schulkind 1997), whereas the odor bump has been localized to the first decade of life (<10 years; Chu and Downes 2000;Larsson 2006, 2007). Also, research has demonstrated that odor-evoked memories produce stronger emotional arousal than events triggered by other sensory modalities (e.g., Chu and Downes 2002;Herz and Cupchick 1995;Herz et al 2004;Herz and Schooler 2002;Willander and Larsson 2007). The connection between olfaction and emotion is based on the findings that the olfactory bulb projects directly to the amygdala and periamygaloid cortex that play important roles in emotional memory (Cahill et al 1995;Packard et al 1994;Wilson et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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The Mind’s Nose and Autobiographical Odor Memory

Willander

Larsson

2008

Chem. Percept.

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This study investigated the potential impact of odor imagery on the retrieval of autobiographical events. Specifically, the main aims were to examine the influence of imagined odor cues on (a) the age distribution of autobiographical memories and (b) the experiential qualities of the retrieved events. Sixty-four older adults were randomized into one of two cue conditions (word or odor imagery) and were asked to relate any autobiographical event for the given cue. The results indicated that events evoked by odor imagery were older than memories associated with words. Specifically, most memories evoked by olfactory imagery originated from the first decade of life (<10 years), whereas word-evoked memories peaked in young adulthood (11-20 years). Also, memories evoked by odor imagery entailed higher proportions of sensory experiences as compared to the word-cue condition. However, other phenomenological qualities of the retrieved events did not differ between the two conditions. Overall, this pattern of findings suggests that olfactory imagery influences temporal but not experiential qualities of retrieved autobiographical memory information.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 74%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Mind’s Nose and Autobiographical Odor Memory

Willander

Larsson

2008

Chem. Percept.

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“…All four papers have the same conclusion about the location of the bump: for word cues the bump peaks at a time consistent with Koppel and Berntsen's (2015) conclusions with the most memories in the 11-20 decade, whereas for odor cues, the bump is earlier with most memories in the 0-10 decade (Chu & Downes, 2000;Willander & Larsson, 2006, 2007. In three of these studies the odor cues were the sensory cues of the odors themselves.…”

Section: Two Bumps Three Bumps Four?mentioning

confidence: 65%

One bump, two bumps, three bumps, four? Using retrieval cues to divide one autobiographical memory reminiscence bump into many.

Rubin¹

2015

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

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“…Rubin and Schulkind (1997b) suggested that the HI cues may trigger earlier memories by promoting a more perceptually driven retrieval, whereas LI cues promote more conceptual or semantic processing (also see Conway & PleydellPearce, 2000; Mortensen et al, in press, for a similar view). This difference between perceptually and conceptually based processing has also been used to explain the unique age distribution of odor-evoked memories favoring older, childhood memories (Willander & Larsson, 2007).To our knowledge, only one study has directly compared the effect of cue imageability on past and future MTT. Anderson, Dewhurst and Nash (2012) asked subjects to retrieve past or imagine future specific events.…”

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confidence: 99%

“I can see clearly now”: The effect of cue imageability on mental time travel

Rasmussen

Berntsen

2014

Mem Cogn

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Mental time travel (MTT) is the ability to mentally project oneself backwards or forward in time in order to remember an event from one's personal past or to imagine a possible event in one´s personal future. Recent work suggests that while past and future MTT may rely on shared neurocognitive substrates, the two temporal directions may interact differently with components of this underlying system. Here, we asked 151 participants to recall or imagine past and future autobiographical events in response to high and low imageable cue words. Results showed that high and low imageable cued events differed markedly on almost all measures, suggesting that imagery acts as a facilitator when constructing both past and possible future events. In line with previous work, future events less often referred to specific events, contained fewer details and were more positive and idyllic, than past events. However, these main effects were qualified by a number of interactions. In particular, we found an increased effect of cue imageability for past as compared to future events, suggesting that the generation of past events is more sensitive to the ability of the cues to invoke the sensory components of the encoding context, whereas the construction of future events is more driven by context-independent schemata.3 This is the accepted version of the following article: ."I can see clearly now": The effect of cue imageability on mental time travel. Memory & Cognition, 42, 1063-1075 . The final publication is availableat Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0414-1 "I can see clearly now": The effect of Cue Imageability on Mental Time TravelWhen we recollect events that belong to our personal past, we often do so with considerable detail, by "seeing with our mind's eye" the setting in which the event took place and the people and objects that were present. Mental imagery is considered a crucial component of vivid remembering (Brewer, 1996; Huijbers, Pennartz, Rubin & Daselaar, 2011;Moulton & Kosslyn, 2009;Rubin, Schrauf & Greenberg, 2003), and a defining characteristic of episodic memory (Tulving, 2002;Wheeler, Stuss & Tulving, 1997). Visual imagery can be used to invoke more details about an event Robinson, 1992), and the presence of visual imagery also makes memories feel more vivid . Theories of autobiographical or episodic memory hold that recollection relies not only on the activation of previously formed memory traces of past events, but also on reconstructive processes (Bartlett, 1932;Brewer, 1996;Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000;Rubin et al., 2003). In the present article, we examine the role of imagery in the reconstruction of memories of past events and in imagining possible events in the future -an ability termed mental time travel (MTT) (Wheeler et al., 1997).Converging evidence supports the idea that past and future MTT share common neural and cognitive underpinnings (for reviews, see Berntsen & Bohn, 2010;D'Argembeau, 2012;Schacter & Addis, 2007;Szpunar, 2010). Notably, previous studies have foun...

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Olfaction and emotion: The case of autobiographical memory

Cited by 157 publications

References 27 publications

The Mind’s Nose and Autobiographical Odor Memory

The Mind’s Nose and Autobiographical Odor Memory

One bump, two bumps, three bumps, four? Using retrieval cues to divide one autobiographical memory reminiscence bump into many.

“I can see clearly now”: The effect of cue imageability on mental time travel

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