Interplay between smell and the mind

Citation

Rudall, B.H. (1999), "Interplay between smell and the mind", Kybernetes, Vol. 28 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1999.06728eaa.008

Interplay between smell and the mind

Keywords Automation, Cybernetics, Research, Technological developments

Abstract Reports and surveys are given of selected current research and development in systems and cybernetics. They include: Language interface, Automated automobile, Innovative space technology, Software reliability and safety, Automatic analysis of handwritten documents, High-tech musical instruments, Biological motors, Interplay between smell and the mind, Cybernetics and automation.

Interplay between smell and the mind

A research study that considered the effects of smell on the mind could have far reaching implications. Claimed to be the first such study it contributes to our understanding of the workings of the brain.

The field of cognitive neurosciences has a great deal to offer to students of the brain and in this instance the study which aims to measure the effects of smell on memory could have implications of very practical value.

The work of Professor John Aggleton (University of Wales at Cardiff, UK) and his paper published in the British Journal of Psychology (February, 1999) provide many interesting studies on this subject. For example he writes that:

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  A visit to a museum up to 15 years ago was recalled by as much as 20 per cent by the smell of Viking lavatories, burned wood and apples.

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  Measuring the effects of smell on memory could have implications for aiding recall in people with dementia.

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  Reconstructions of situations, such as "scene of the crime" and "forgotten events" could be aided by prompting people's memories with smell.

Whilst many cyberneticians and systemists believed this to be true there was little in the literature to confirm their speculations. Now Professor Aggleton's study confirms what we thought happened in life. He says: "What we thought happened in life we found to be true. Smell really does improve a person's ability to recall". He also believes that the part of the brain involved in smell was also involved in aspects of emotion,including fear. He writes:

There seems to be a direct interplay between the two. Emotion can aid memory when the emotion is arousing or scary ... the smell of the Viking lavatories was what people remembered most frequently of a Viking museum visited even years later.

The project he reports on in the psychology journal quoted previously concerned 45 people who had visited the Jorvik Museum in York, UK which is renowned for the smells that accompany the exhibits of Viking life. Later they had their memories tested. The group was split into three and questioned twice. On average they had visited the museum six years and nine months previously. The first group was questioned about their visit to Jorvik, aided by seven Jorvic smells in bottles. They were again questioned with control smells of coffee, peppermint, rose, coconut, maple and rum. The second group was tested first with the control smells and then with Jorvik smells. The third group was questioned with no smells.

Professor Aggleton writes that the Jorvik smells prompted people's memories of the museum but the group given the control smells first followed by the Jorvik smells showed the most marked improvement in their memories.

We now await with much interest further experiments on this theme and the possible applications that may ensue. It is only by consistently studying such aspects of the brain's actions that we will be able to understand just a little more about its functions.