Machaela, Rob, Kaila, Sarah, Chris, and Brittanny Olfactics Machaela, Rob, Kaila, Sarah, Chris, and Brittanny

INTRODUCTION Sense of smell Difficult to identify Poor at naming odors vs. visual appearance Inducing recognition on olfactics

Introduction Verbal labeling Images are easily named but smells are a lot more difficult to detect (Stevenson et al.) “Tip of the Tongue” Phenomenon “Tip of the Nose” Phenomenon TOT Idea of word and syllables TON Disadvantage Based off of characteristics of smell not the word itself

Laboratory-Based RWI Effect First RWI experiment in 1990 Semantic Memory Cleary and Specker Study on Celebrities (2007) Study Purpose Can RWI be shown without identified odors? Does RWI involve preexisting connections between odor names and referents? Examine TOT States

Methods 68 student participants Materials did experiment in exchange for $$$ Materials 80 different scents Scratch and sniff stickers Booklets “Name only” “Name-plus-scent” Half of the scents corresponded to the study cards, half did not

methods Procedure Groups of 4-8 randomly assigned “Name-only condition” “Name-plus scent condition” Half and half TOT state Could not flip back No formal time limit for each page

Results Have to consider how often the participants were able to identify the odors at test (some people can’t smell it even if they know what it is) The participants may have never smelt the scent before Was difficult for participants Naming Scents is more difficult than naming other types of stimuli

Results More test scents were identified overall when the names and the scents were studied Degree of priming was greater in the name-plus-scent condition Since significant priming was shown even in the name-only condition it serves as a manipulation check, in that it suggests that there was correspondence between the scents used in the present study and their names. Studying a scent’s name by itself increased the likelihood

rESULTS GENDER DIFFERENCE Studies show that females score higher when detecting odor, identifying odor, and odor discrimination One article said it is evident in females as newborn babies Females scent detection is very strong during menstruation

discussion The RWI effect only occurred in the condition in which the study test odors themselves had actually been smelled at study This pattern of finding suggests that the odor RWI effect reported here is an episodic perceptually driven phenomenon Reinstating episodes occurring with memory of what it smells like along with the visual image that comes along with it

discussion Researchers have shown that the odor of a certain item is significantly more difficult than naming it and telling what it looks like However, odors are not uniquely connected with their name, but rather are weakly connected to all identifying information about their source.

Summary Participants studied either odor names alone or odor names that were accompanied by scratch-and-sniff stickers, which some corresponded to items that were studied and half were not studied. They attempted to identify each odor and rate the likelihood that it corresponded to a studied item. Furthermore, the participants would then identify if they were in a tip-of-the-tongue state and odor recognition without identification was found. This happened when the participants smelled the odors at the study and not when they studied the odors and then tested on them. Which showed an episode-specific effect, driven by past experience with the odor.

Summary Continued….. Both conditions (the name-only and name-plus scent conditions) showed the TOT-attribution. This study raises the question of whether the ability to recognize odors that cannot be identified (“Tip of the nose effect”) is due to a mere feeling of familiarity with the unidentifiable odor or whether it is due to a prior occurrence. Future studies should look at this question and look at effective triggers of feelings of familiarity.