The Effects of Scent on Memory Recall in Virtual Reality

Early loss of smell has been associated with later diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Loss in olfactory abilities tends to appear 5-10 years before the hallmark symptoms. Additionally, the olfactory system has been shown to evoke strong emotional memories in both healthy individuals and those affected with AD. Yet, it is unclear how scents aid in memory. One way in which scents vary is in complexity: the chemical structure of scents ranges from simple (such as lemon) or complex (such as coffee). No one has explored if scent complexity relates to memory. Thus, we hypothesized that participants exposed to a complex odor (coffee) would display better memory recall than participants exposed to a less complex odor (lemon) or no scent at all. We tested a total of 167 Psychology 101 students( 45 males, 122 females) in a virtual reality (VR) memory game with or without scent. There were no significant effects between different scent conditions or sex in the VR memory game.