23 Jun The Sweet Smell of School Success
Did you know – our sense of smell is largely associated with our memories? Probably more so than any of our other senses! Individuals with full olfactory function may relate that smells evoke particular memories in our brains. Let’s take a look at how Franziska Newman, a trainee school teacher at the University of Freiburg, discovered the links between smell and memory and went on to test whether the connection could aid students in recollecting their lessons.
Recently, Franziska raised the idea about linking smells to memories when she found out that the smell of her olive face cream brought back memories of her mother wearing the same cream. To verify her hypothesis, she recruited a small group of students learning English vocabulary as her sample size to put to a test. The first group of students were given a rose-scented incense to place by their books while they study and during a test. The second group of students put the incense sticks beside their beds when they slept, while the third group used the incense sticks to study, sleep and during the exam.
Interestingly, the results displayed that combining smell with study and sleep improved students’ grades! Evidently, this indicates that scents facilitate in assigning the information they have learnt from short-term memory to long-term memory. However, this doesn’t mean that one does not have to study to retain information in the brain. Franziska also added that it is still crucial for one to study and pass an examination, but use scents to help in memory storage and eventually, boost exam scores.
There you go, parents. A simple trick to get that A+ for your kids’ examination.
Link: https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/chemical-communication/Sweet-smelling
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