Abstract
Research has previously demonstrated that aromas of both Salvia officinalis and Salvia lavandulaefolia are capable of modulating aspects of retrospective memory, attention and mood. This study is the first to report the potential for these aromas to enhance everyday prospective memory performance in healthy young adults. In an independent groups design, three conditions, Salvia officinalis aroma, Saliva lavandulaefolia aroma and no aroma were employed with 45 healthy volunteers in each condition. Prospective memory performance was assessed using the Prospective Remembering Video Procedure. Data analysis revealed that the Salvia officinalis aroma group performed significantly better than the control group on both event and action subscales of the prospective memory task. Saliva lavandulaefolia aroma only led to enhancement for the event measure when compared to controls. No differences were found between the aroma conditions. These findings offer support for those previously reported for the effects of the aromas of Salvia sp. on cognition and again demonstrate differential effects of the two aromas. The results are considered in terms of pharmacological mechanisms.
Highlights
History records the extensive use of herbal medicines and other plant derived products for the treatment ofHow to cite this paper: Moss, M., Rouse, M. and Moss, L. (2014) Aromas of Salvia Species Enhance Everyday Prospective Memory Performance in Healthy Young Adults
Given the lack of research in the area, the current study aims to assess the effects of Salvia officinalis and Salvia lavandulaefolia essential oil aromas on an objective video based measure of prospective memory performance
A more fine grained analysis of the scores revealed that this enhancement was restricted to “Event” based aspects of Prospective memory (PM) for Salvia lavandulaefolia aroma with no impact on action performance
Summary
History records the extensive use of herbal medicines and other plant derived products for the treatment ofHow to cite this paper: Moss, M., Rouse, M. and Moss, L. (2014) Aromas of Salvia Species Enhance Everyday Prospective Memory Performance in Healthy Young Adults. Recent times have witnessed a resurgence of such alternative therapies, with alternative herbal medicines being used along side or instead of the more conventional treatments [2], with one of the main focuses being the attempt to find treatments to combat age-associated cognitive decline [3]. Of interest in this respect has been the Salvia genus, in particular Salvia officinalis (SO) and Salvia lavandulaefolia (SL). Relatively new with respect to systematic scientific research the findings reported to date regarding the efficacy of extracts of these species have been very promising. The authors reported significantly improved cognitive ability and decreased agitation when compared to the placebo control group
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