Curr Biol. 2009 Nov 4. [Epub ahead of print]
The Privileged Brain Representation of First Olfactory Associations.
Yeshurun Y, Lapid H, Dudai Y, Sobel N.
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Authors [1], poets [2], and scientists [3-6] have been fascinated by the strength of childhood olfactory memories. Indeed, in long-term memory, the first odor-to-object association was stronger than subsequent associations of the same odor with other objects [7]. Here we tested the hypothesis that first odor associations enjoy a privileged brain representation. Because emotion impacts memory [8-10], we further asked whether the pleasantness of an odor would influence such a representation. On day 1, we associated the same visual objects initially with one, and subsequently with a second, set of pleasant and unpleasant olfactory and auditory stimuli. One week later, we presented the same visual objects and tested odor-associative memory concurrent with functional magnetic resonance brain imaging. We found that the power (% remembered) of early associations was enhanced when they were unpleasant, regardless of whether they were olfactory or auditory. Brain imaging, however, revealed a unique hippocampal activation for early olfactory but not auditory associations, regardless of whether they were pleasant or unpleasant. Activity within the hippocampus on day 1 predicted the olfactory but not auditory associations that would be remembered one week later. These findings confirmed the hypothesis of a privileged brain representation for first olfactory associations.
olfaction – a sense of first impressions
I don’t quite understand the methods used in this human behavior analysis paper. However, I am very intrigued by the conclusion. Although, their study was limited to odor and sound, and mainly focused on odor, I really believe the first impression rules all the human act.
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