Brief odor exposure induces lingering mnemonic biases for upcoming visual events
Odor representation in the brain can extend beyond its sensory input for few seconds. It is unknown, however, whether such odor persistent trace representation can shape mnemonic processing for upcoming events in humans and if so, whether this effect is odor hedonic valence dependent. Here, we recorded scalp electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in 23 healthy participants while they were encoding pictures that were preceded, 6 seconds before, by two different odors, L-Carvone or N-Butanol. The hedonic valence of each odor was rated by the participant at the end of each trial. After 48 hours, participants completed a surprised recognition test of the encoded pictures. We found that the odor hedonic rating predicted memory confidence of the associated picture. In turn, confidence predicted whether the picture was remembered or not and this effect was greater for pictures preceded by unpleasant odors. Event-related potential and representational similarity analyses of the EEG signal showed that patterns of brain responses elicited by odor exposure persisted for 3-4 seconds, and that odor-induced patterns of brain responses were reinstated at the encoding of the upcoming picture when odor was rated unpleasant. These results provide evidence that odor-induced persistent trace representations can influence subsequent mnemonic processing for visual events.
ZOOM LINK: https://ub-edu.zoom.us/j/91235728676
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