Ad:

Scents help create memories during sleep

You can read this text in 1 min.

Scents help create memories during sleep

PantherMedia

Lavender fragrance

Previous research has shown that smell has a huge impact on evoking memories. The researchers' latest findings suggest that it may also have an impact on their retention.

Ad:

Israeli scientists conducted an experiment on a group of 32 people. Each was asked to smell a rose flower while memorising the location of words on a computer screen. The next stage was a 2-hour nap. During sleep, the flower was again applied to one of the subjects' nostrils.

By attaching a rose to just one nostril, the researchers were able to reactivate memories stored on the same side of the brain as the selected nostril. The result of the experiment yielded surprising information.

- The subjects remembered the words on the side that had been touched by the scent during sleep significantly better than those presented on the other side, says Ella Bar, one of the authors of the study.

The fact that it is possible to manipulate memory using smell may also have clinical applications.According to the researchers, such a technique can help restore the memory of people who have suffered a brain injury, such as a stroke.