Abstract

Odors can increase memory performance when presented as context during both encoding and retrieval phases. Since information from different sensory modalities is integrated into a unified conceptual knowledge, we hypothesize that the social information from body odors and faces would be integrated during encoding. The integration of such social information would enhance retrieval more so than when the encoding occurs in the context of common odors. To examine this hypothesis and to further explore the underlying neural correlates of this behavior, we have conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in which participants performed an encoding‐retrieval memory task for faces during the presentation of common odor, body odor or clean air. At the behavioral level, results show that participants were less biased and faster in recognizing faces when presented in concomitance with the body odor compared to the common odor. At the neural level, the encoding of faces in the body odor condition, compared to common odor and clean air conditions, showed greater activation in areas related to associative memory (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), odor perception and multisensory integration (orbitofrontal cortex). These results suggest that face and body odor information were integrated and as a result, participants were faster in recognizing previously presented material.

Highlights

  • Odors are effective contextual cues in the recollection or recognition of information experienced in the recent or remote past (Larsson, Arshamian, & Kärnekull, 2017)

  • The current study aimed at investigating whether a masked human body odor, which has been shown to be able to convey social information, presented as contextual cue during encoding and recognition tasks, increased memory performance for faces in a more effective way than a neutral common odor

  • The results revealed that the exposure to human body odors (a) exerts behavioral effects, they were not specific to the hit answers and (b) it was linked to stronger activity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and dlPFC during the encoding phase of face pictures, 4.1 | Human body odors showed a facilitation effect on face recognition

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Summary

Introduction

Odors are effective contextual cues in the recollection or recognition of information experienced in the recent or remote past (Larsson, Arshamian, & Kärnekull, 2017). Olfactory information is directly transduced from the olfactory bulb and the piriform cortex into the amygdala and the hippocampus, without passing through the thalamus (Lundström, Boesveldt, & Albrecht, 2011; Powell, Cowan, & Raisman, 1965). This direct route plays a central role in memory and emotional processing (Delplanque, Coppin, & Sander, 2017; Kadohisa, 2013; Larsson & Willander, 2009).

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