Odour‐based context reinstatement effects with indirect measures of memory: The curious case of rosemary

Abstract

Previous studies examining environmental context-dependent memory (ECDM) effects using indirect measures of memory have produced inconsistent findings. We report three experiments that examined ECDM in an indirect memory paradigm (word-fragment completion) using ambient odours as environmental contexts. Expt 1 manipulated the odour present at learning and testing (rosemary or lemon) to produce reinstated-context or switched-context conditions. Reinstating rosemary led to a striking ECDM effect, indicating that indirect memory testing can be sensitive to ECDM manipulations. Odour ratings also indicated that rosemary induced a more unpleasant mood in participants than lemon. Expt 2 assessed the influence on indirect retrieval of odour-based mood induction as well as odour distinctiveness, and indicated that rosemary's capacity to promote ECDM effects appears to arise from an additive combination of its unpleasantness-inducing properties and its distinctiveness. Expt 3 partially supported these proposals. Overall, our findings indicate that some odours are capable of producing ECDM effects using indirect testing procedures. Moreover, it appears that it is the inherent proprieties of odours on dimensions such as unpleasantness and distinctiveness that mediate the emergence of ECDM effects, thereby explaining the particular potency of rosemary's mnemonic influence when it is reinstated.

The influence of banner advertisements on attention and memory: human faces with averted gaze can enhance advertising effectiveness

“…To test this prediction we conducted a 2 × 3 mixed factorial Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) on participants' implicit memory scores (i.e., their percentage correct word fragment completions for word items contained in vertical banners vs. word items contained in horizontal banners) across all three face conditions (no face vs. mutual gaze vs. averted gaze). This analysis included participants' correct distracter item word fragment completions as a covariate, since performance in relation to such distractor items that have not been encountered in the context of the experiment can be viewed as a good measure of a participant's baseline word fragment completion ability (see Ball et al, 2010). …”

Active Self-aspects as a Basis for Encoding Specificity Effects in Memory

“…In this literature, a state is typically defined as either an ''inner context'' or a ''mental state'' (e.g., Groome, 2006). To further compare, experiences labeled as ''contexts'' have included the physical location (i.e., room) or a video background (e.g., Greenspoon & Ranyard, 1957;Smith & Manzano, 2010), as well as sensory experiences such as odor, taste, and sound (e.g., Mead & Ball, 2007;Johnson, & Miles, 2008;Ball, Shoker, & Miles, 2010). ''States'' have included mood (e.g., Ucros, 1989), physiological arousal (e.g., exercise; Miles & Hardman, 1998), chemically altered states (e.g., caffeine and alcohol; Goodwin et al, 1969;Kelemen & Creeley, 2003), and physical pain (e.g., Pearce, Isherwood, Hrouda, Richardson, Erskin, & Skinner, 1990).…”

Cognitive Facilitation Following Intentional Odor Exposure

“…These anomalous context effects were examined by Ball et al . [94] who used a fragment word completion task to examine the effects of learning and recalling in same odor contexts. In Experiment 1 participants were assigned to one of the following groups: (1) learning with lemon, recalling with lemon, (2) learning with lemon, recalling with rosemary, (3) learning with rosemary, recalling with rosemary, and (4) learning with rosemary, recalling with lemon.…”

“…In Experiment 1 participants were assigned to one of the following groups: (1) learning with lemon, recalling with lemon, (2) learning with lemon, recalling with rosemary, (3) learning with rosemary, recalling with rosemary, and (4) learning with rosemary, recalling with lemon. They [94] reported a context effect, however, this effect was only apparent for rosemary, i.e ., a recall advantage was found for participants who learned and recalled with rosemary but not for participants who learned and recalled with lemon. They [94] argued that such an effect is driven by both unpleasantness and distinctiveness, wherein the greater the unpleasantness/distinctiveness of the odor, the more salient the context.…”

“…They [94] reported a context effect, however, this effect was only apparent for rosemary, i.e ., a recall advantage was found for participants who learned and recalled with rosemary but not for participants who learned and recalled with lemon. They [94] argued that such an effect is driven by both unpleasantness and distinctiveness, wherein the greater the unpleasantness/distinctiveness of the odor, the more salient the context. This was broadly supported in Experiment 2 where unpleasant/distinctive (rosemary), unpleasant/non-distinctive (hyssop), pleasant-distinctive (lemon), and pleasant/non-distinctive (orange) odors were compared where participants learned and recalled in the same odor context.…”