[Sigia-l] smelly contextual inquiries?

[Eric Scheid]

On 6/1/05 12:05 PM, "Boniface Lau" <boniface_lau at compuserve.com> wrote:

> The fact that you remember having seen those things during the inquiry
> can trigger some inquiry memories. But smelling the odors of those
> things does not trigger any additional inquiry memories. That is
> because seeing is not smelling. During the inquiry, you saw the rose
> on the desk but you did not actually smell it.

I thought it went without saying that it would be necessary to imprint the
actual scent on your memory. Good point though.

> Even if you had actually smelled that rose, it doesn't necessary mean
> you had associated the inquiry details with the fragrance.
> Odor-triggered memory tends to be more emotional. When you notice a
> familiar odor during an inquiry, you are more likely to associate the
> emotional overtone of that odor with the inquiry, instead of
> associating that odor with inquiry details.

That doesn't entirely jibe with what I've read off an on over the years.
It's more like scent evokes memory of an emotional event, and facilitates
recall of specific detail.  That is, it seems that both scent and emotional
context are required to 'burn in' the memory of specific details, while
scent alone is necessary to facilitate recall.

e.