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Science 9 March 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5817, p. 1333
DOI: 10.1126/science.315.5817.1333k
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This Week in Science

The evocative nature of smell is well known, but can smells actually enhance memory retention? Rasch et al. (p. 1426; see the news story by Miller) examined in humans whether memory consolidation is actively assisted by slow-wave sleep. Subjects were first trained on an object-place association task in the presence of a distinct odor. During subsequent slow-wave sleep, this odor was reintroduced to facilitate reactivation of memories from the paired associate task. Odor application led to enhanced activity in the hippocampus. Subjects who experienced the odor during slow-wave sleep performed better on an episodic memory retention test on the subsequent day.




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