When certain odors come to our nose from time to time during the day, we feel as if we are going back. Many people who have this experience have been involved in a certain action related to that smell, usually at a young age. Thus, those little memories we experience in our childhood come to our minds at once thanks to a single smell. In a collaborative study by Tel Aviv University in Israel and Weizmann Institute of Science, the researchers managed to take this event even further. In the new study, the focus of researchers was whether they could help people learn using the relationship between smell and memory. The fragrance helps the brain boost memory during sleep: In the study published in the journal Current Biology, a technique called ‘targeted memory reactivation (TMR)’ was used to help participants create short-term memory. As a result of the study, it was revealed that people can really improve their learning skills with the help of smell. Sleep is very important for our brain’s memory integrity. For many years, many scientists have emphasized the relationship between lack of sleep and memory loss. However, it is said that taking a nap during the day can also improve memory. So can we really learn better when sleep and smell are combined? The fragrance made people remember better: In the study conducted by two universities, the smell motive that would not awaken people from their sleep was used to increase the memory processes of people. In the study, 32 volunteers had to remember the location of the words on the computer screen on their left or right sides when they were exposed to the scent of roses. The researchers tested whether the locations of the words were remembered again before the volunteers had a 2 hour nap. When volunteers fell asleep, the researchers exposed them again to the scent of roses. This time, however, they made them smell through one nostril instead of letting them smell through both nostrils. The fact that the researchers made this choice was related to the human brain. Memories related to the left side of a person in the human brain are stored on the right side of the brain. Of course, the same is true for memories about the right side. The researchers, who smelled a single nostril, were thus able to reactivate the memories stored on the side associated with the chosen nostril. Volunteers are better at remembering the words they see on the left side when the volunteers smell their right nostrils. Likewise, when smell was given to the left nostrils, they did not have difficulty remembering the words on their right side. The researchers said that the technique that provides their results can help people with brain damage to restore their memories. However, they stated that this technique may also work in people with post-traumatic stress disorder who show more activity on the right side of the brain.
