Impact of familiar olfactory stimulation on self‐consciousness

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

AbstractBackgroundAutobiographical memory facilitates the construction and meaning attributed to a lifetime story. The episodic autobiographical memory involves the personal experiences related to a place and a specific time, and the semantic autobiographical memory is associated to a general knowledge related to repetitive events and past experiences over a long period of time (Allen, Doyle, Commins & Roche, 2018). Autobiographical events trigger an autonomic consciousness in which it revives the past memories, while the autobiographical semantic knowledge involves a consciousness of past limited and noetic familiar sensation (Irish et al., 2018; El Haj, Nandrino & Kapogiannis, 2015; Rathbone, Ellis, Ahmed, Moulin, Ernst, & Butler, 2019). Decline of autobiographical episodic memory involves a progressive loss of self‐consciousness in Alzheimer’s disease (A.D). Some studies like Glachet, Gandolphe, Gallouj, Antonie, and El Haj (2018) demonstrate positive effects of olfactory stimulation on autobiographical memory. However, no research has evaluated the influence of familiar olfactory stimulation on A.D related to improve self‐consciousness in Dominican Republic. This study aims to evaluate the evoked autobiographical memories from familiar olfactory stimulation has an enforcement or facilitator effect on self‐consciousness.MethodFifty people with mild and moderate A.D will participate. The Control group, will have an olfactory stimulation without familiar smells and the experimental group, will have an olfactory stimulation with familiar smells. After intervention: Evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory (controlled process) and self‐consciousness. During Intervention: Olfactory familiar stimulation with experimental group and placebo olfactory stimulation with control group. Then there will be an evaluation of autobiographical episodic memory (automatic process). Before intervention: Post olfactory stimulation of self‐consciousness.ResultsWe expect that the positive valiance of familiar olfactory intervention will be evoked more in the autobiographical episodic memories than the placebo stimulation olfactory in patients with A.D; and that autobiographical episodic automatic or involuntary memories evoked will be more elevated about subjective content that the voluntary or explicit ones. We also hope that the group of patients with familiar olfactory stimulation evoke autobiographical episodic memory and improve their level of self‐consciousness.ConclusionThis study will be a framework for non‐pharmacologic interventions and future clinical trials with familiar olfactory intervention.