A cognitive nose? Evaluating working memory benchmarks in the olfactory domain

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Sensory Science

Background:

• Working memory (WM) research predominantly focuses on visual and auditory stimuli.
• Olfactory WM, the memory for smells, remains under-explored.
• Understanding olfactory WM is crucial for a comprehensive theory of memory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and integrate research on olfactory working memory (WM).
• To assess the generalizability of established WM benchmarks to the sense of smell.
• To identify gaps in knowledge and suggest future research directions for olfactory WM.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of studies on olfactory WM over the past 50 years (N=44).
• Evaluation of 21 proposed WM benchmarks for their applicability to olfactory WM.
• Analysis of existing research to identify patterns and exceptions in olfactory WM.

Main Results:

• Seven out of 21 WM benchmarks generalized to olfactory WM.
• Two WM benchmarks did not generalize to the sense of smell.
• Evidence was insufficient for 12 benchmarks, with mixed support for 4 and 8 unaddressed.

Conclusions:

• Olfactory WM shares similarities with WM in other senses but exhibits unique characteristics.
• Existing WM theoretical frameworks should incorporate findings from non-auditory, non-visual senses.
• Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms and scope of olfactory WM.