Odors associated with autobiographical memory induce visual imagination of emotional scenes as well as orbitofrontal-fusiform activation
Open accessAbstract
Specific odors can induce memories of the past, especially those associated with autobiographical and episodic memory. Odors associated with autobiographical memories have been found to elicit stronger activation in the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus, and parahippocampus compared with odors not linked to personal memories. Here, we examined whether continuous odor stimuli associated with autobiographical memories could activate the above olfactory areas in older adults and speculated regarding whether this odor stimulation could have a protective effect against age-related cognitive decline. Specifically, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the relationship between blood oxygen levels in olfactory regions and odor-induced subjective memory retrieval and emotions associated with autobiographical memory in older adults. In our group of healthy older adults, the tested odors induced autobiographical memories that were accompanied by increasing levels of retrieval and the feeling of being "brought back in time." The strength of the subjective feelings, including vividness of the memory and degree of comfort, impacted activation of the left fusiform gyrus and left posterior orbitofrontal cortex. Further, our path model suggested that the strength of memory retrieval and of the emotions induced by odor-evoked autobiographical memories directly influenced neural changes in the left fusiform gyrus, and impacted left posterior orbitofrontal cortex activation through the left fusiform response.
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The orbitofrontal cortex is involved in processing associative olfactory learning memory in mice and odor-evoked memory in humans.
“the orbitofrontal cortex is involved in processing associative olfactory learning memory in mice and odor-evoked memory in humans [60–63].”
From Positive early-life olfactory memory is rooted in the olfactory bulb and triggers large-scale changes beyond the olfactory system (2026) · cites this paper as [61]
The Results (fMRI Results) report greater left posterior orbitofrontal cortex activation for autobiographical-memory odors than for control odors in human participants, supporting the human odor-evoked memory portion. This paper does not report associative olfactory learning memory in mice, so it does not support that portion of the sentence. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Masaoka, Y., Sugiyama, H., Yoshida, M., Yoshikawa, A., Honma, M., Koiwa, N., Kamijo, S., Watanabe, K., Kubota, S., Iizuka, N., Ida, M., Ono, K., & Izumizaki, M.
- Affiliations
- SHOWA Medical University (JP)
- Kao Corporation (Japan) (JP)
- Jikei University School of Medicine (JP)
- University of Human Arts and Sciences (JP)
- National Hospital Organization Mito Medical Center (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Masaoka, Yuri
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2021-08-03
- Volume
- 15
- Pages
- 709050-709050
- ISSN
- 1662-453X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8369471
- OpenAlex
- W3190660290
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Kao Corporation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- olfactory memory, fusiform gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, emotional memory, older adults, age-related cognitive decline, subjective memory experience, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus
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