ABSTRACT
To establish a valid animal model of the effects of olfactory stimuli on anxiety, a series of experiments was conducted using rats in an open-field test. Throughout, effects of lavender oil were compared with the effects of chlordiazepoxide (CDP), as a reference anxiolytic with well-known effects on open-field behaviour. Rats were exposed to lavender oil (0.1-1.0 ml) for 30 min (Experiment 1) or 1h (Experiment 2) prior to open-field test and in the open field or injected with CDP (10 mg/kg i.p.). CDP had predicted effects on behaviour, and the higher doses of lavender oil had some effects on behaviour similar to those of CDP. In Experiment 3, various combinations of pre-exposure times and amounts of lavender oil were used. With sufficient exposure time and quantity of lavender the same effects were obtained as in Experiment 2. Experiment 4 demonstrated that these behavioural effects of lavender could be obtained following pre-exposure, even if no oil was present in the open-field test. In Experiments 2-4, lavender oil increased immobility. Together, these experiments suggest that lavender oil does have anxiolytic effects in the open field, but that a sedative effect can also occur at the highest doses.
Subject(s)
Anti-Anxiety Agents/pharmacology , Behavior, Animal/drug effects , Lavandula , Phytotherapy , Plant Oils/pharmacology , Administration, Inhalation , Animals , Anti-Anxiety Agents/administration & dosage , Anti-Anxiety Agents/therapeutic use , Chlordiazepoxide/administration & dosage , Chlordiazepoxide/pharmacology , Chlordiazepoxide/therapeutic use , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Injections, Intraperitoneal , Male , Plant Oils/administration & dosage , Plant Oils/therapeutic use , Rats , Rats, Sprague-DawleyABSTRACT
Recent studies have demonstrated that visual and verbal suppression tasks interfere with olfactory memory in a manner which is partially consistent with a dual coding interpretation. However, it has been suggested that total task complexity rather than modality specificity of the suppression tasks might account for the observed pattern of results. This study addressed the issue of whether or not the level of difficulty and complexity of suppression tasks could explain the apparent modality effects noted in earlier experiments. A total of 608 participants were each allocated to one of 19 experimental conditions involving interference tasks which varied suppression type (visual or verbal), nature of complexity (single, double or mixed) and level of difficulty (easy, optimal or difficult) and presented with 13 target odours. Either recognition of the odours or free recall of the odour names was tested on one occasion, either within 15 minutes of presentation or one week later. Both recognition and recall performance showed an overall effect for suppression nature, suppression level and time of testing with no effect for suppression type. The results lend only limited support to Paivio's (1986) dual coding theory, but have a number of characteristics which suggest that an adequate account of olfactory memory may be broadly similar to current theories of face and object recognition. All of these phenomena might be dealt with by an appropriately modified version of dual coding theory.
Subject(s)
Memory/physiology , Perceptual Masking , Smell , Acoustic Stimulation , Adolescent , Analysis of Variance , Female , Humans , Male , Photic Stimulation , Psychological TheoryABSTRACT
Over the last decade, interest in the general applicability of psychological research has increased significantly, leading to doubts among some critics of cognitive psychology regarding the usefulness of the modern information-processing approach. In particular, current cognitive models of memory address mainly visual and verbal information processing, with little acknowledgement of the existence of other sensory modalities. However, since the mid-1970's, the literature on olfactory memory has expanded rapidly, and it has remained relatively independent of mainstream memory research. This article outlines the olfactory literature, which has focused principally on examination of the Proustian characteristics of smell. The relationship between olfactory and other types of memory is also examined. The author notes that there is evidence that models of memory intended to be general have taken insufficient account of findings from olfaction and other sensory modalities, an approach that could be considered symptomatic of dangerous tendency to base purportedly general theories on databases that are too narrow.
Subject(s)
Cognition , Mental Recall , Smell , Association Learning , Attention , Humans , Philosophy , Retention, PsychologyABSTRACT
With 14 target odours, 7 via each nostril, 20 subjects' correct recognition was lower for the right nostril than for the left with verbal elaboration, but nonsignificant without verbal elaboration.
Subject(s)
Attention , Dominance, Cerebral , Mental Recall , Smell , Verbal Behavior , Discrimination Learning , Humans , OdorantsABSTRACT
It has been demonstrated that musical accompaniment may aid recall of words. This study examined the mnemonic effect of music on recall of verbal material which contained no unfamiliar words over three presentations. 20 participants (average age 21.9 yr.) were randomly allocated to one of two experimental conditions and heard the to-be-remembered lyrics either being sung or read aloud without musical accompaniment. Analysis of both total number of words correctly recalled and the extent of chunking of recalled material showed better over-all recall in the song condition with evidence of greater chunking of material.
Subject(s)
Attention , Mental Recall , Music , Verbal Learning , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Psychoacoustics , Retention, PsychologyABSTRACT
This study examined the serial position curve for recognition of odours and recall of odour names, both with and without instructions for verbal elaboration. Participants were allocated to one of two experimental conditions, either with instructions to rehearse verbally the stimuli or with no elaboration instructions. After presentation of 17 odours, either recognition or free recall of the odours was tested immediately after presentation of the last target odour. Recognition showed evidence of primacy for the verbal elaboration condition and recency for both instruction conditions. Recall of odour names showed evidence of primacy for the verbal elaboration conditions and recency for both conditions. Instructions to verbalize did not significantly affect over-all performance for either test condition.
Subject(s)
Attention , Mental Recall , Odorants , Smell , Verbal Learning , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Memory, Short-Term , Middle Aged , Retention, Psychology , Serial LearningABSTRACT
It has been claimed that olfactory memory is distinct from memory in other modalities. This study investigated the effectiveness of visual and verbal tasks in interfering with olfactory memory and included methodological changes from other recent studies. Subjects were allocated to one of four experimental conditions involving interference tasks [no interference task; visual task; verbal task; visual-plus-verbal task] and presented 15 target odours. Either recognition of the odours or free recall of the odour names was tested on one occasion, either within 15 minutes of presentation or one week later. Recognition and recall performance both showed effects of interference of visual and verbal tasks but there was no effect for time of testing. While the results may be accommodated within a dual coding framework, further work is indicated to resolve theoretical issues relating to task complexity.
