The Nose Knows

[drbandage]

edited abstract:

Doctors have long advised that a good night's sleep is important for memory — but researchers now say a familiar scent wafting in the bedroom might help sometimes, too. In the study, being published Friday in the respected journal Science, (slogan: the world's leading journal of original scientific research),it worked for some kinds of memories during one stage of sleep.

German scientists used medical students as their guinea pigs, having them play a computer version of a common memory game: They turned over pairs of cards to find each one's match.

Some played in a rose-scented room. Later that night, while they were in a deep stage of sleep known as slow-wave sleep, researchers gave them another whiff of roses.

The next day, the rose-scented sleepers remembered the locations of those cards better than people who didn't get a whiff — they answered correctly 97 percent of the time compared with 86 percent.

People exposed to the odor during the lighter dream stage of sleep known as REM sleep saw no memory boost.

[kteague]

DrB - That's quite interesting. Do you know if the effect would be nullified if the scent was in the room all night, which would include deep sleep, or does it have to be introduced during deep sleep?

So, if my grandkid is eating an orange when she plays with my keys and loses them, and I place an orange by her bed when she's sound asleep, maybe in the morning she'll remember where she put them? Just kidding, but it does has interesting implications.

Kathy

[neversleeps]

Very interesting. I found an article on the study.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/scien ... anted=1&hp

If only I'd known about this possibility when I was back in school....

[blarg]

Yeah, but I really don't want to smell what I smell at school when I sleep.

BO and stale popcorn just isn't the way to go.

[Snoredog]

this is probably a question for Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs, but I wonder how the results would have been if they had slept in a sewer

[SleepGuy]

The interplay between sleep, memory, and olfaction is absolutely fascinating to me. The latest research on sleep basically says that sleep has almost everything to do with memory; it's primarily a neurological function. My interpolation of what I have read and heard is that the primary purpose of sleep is to unload the brain's equivalent of RAM (short term memory).

Somehow during sleep the important things in the short term memory are transferred to different locations and most everything else is simply erased. The brain has to figure out what's important and what's not. Dreams somehow play a role in this process, helping us to make associations and know what to keep and whay to delete. Like a computer we have limited RAM capacity.

I had no idea how intertwined olfaction is in this process--but it stands to reason.

Nice to see you back on the boards, Doc!

[bookwrm63]

I just read that article yesterday that was posted on the boards from the NYTimes. Very interesting! The power of smell is amazing indeed.

I would also like to chime in and say it's nice to see you back Dr. B!

Mary

[nana]

DrB I am glad to see your post. I am an avid reader and was glad to see your presence this morning. Maybe they should have promised me a rose garden.
The NY Times article reminds me of the fond memories of going to my grandparent as a youth, when you had to travel through Providence RI passed the 'W Bread" bakery. To this day...........many many days from those travels......if I smell baking bread, I still think of pleasant times with my grandparents.
A good morning indeed.
Nana

[DreamStalker]

I would think that the relationships extend beyond olfactory and also to sound. I have recently begun investigating brain entrainment audio as a spin off of my investigation into hypnotism. I started listening to audio programming to help induce relaxation and sleep and it seems to be working.

I have heard the analogy that dreaming is similar to defragging your hard drive on your PC. The processes of the brain are indeed interesting and I feel that all of the sensory inputs are inter-related with those processes ... which is why I have also developed an interest in Bret's aroma-therapy for sleep. I like dreams.

Life is like a candle and dreams must give it flame - Rush

[Elle]

Thank you for another great article to ponder and welcome back Dr.B.