Can the Sense of Taste Improve Memory Recall?

This project was completed for AP Psychology with Mrs. Bonnie Gonzalez. We were given almost three months to conduct our own research study, which included coming up with a topic, doing background research, creating a hypothesis, designing a procedure, recruiting participants, and writing up the entire study. I chose to do an experiment regarding context-dependent memory, to test if the addition of a specific stimulus would increase memory recall. Between the creative assignments, engaging lectures, and support from the teacher and TAs, I can safely say that this course was one of the best I've ever taken! Psychology is a fascinating subject, and I really appreciated the opportunity to put my knowledge of research to the test and investigate one of the many questions that still need to be answered.

. . . . .

Abstract

Of the many fascinating effects on memory, few offer such clear, practical potential as context-dependent memory. This concept can be explained as a context cue that jogs a person’s memory, such as being in the same room as they were when they learned a specific piece of information. In this study, a possible link between the sense of taste and recall ability was investigated using an experiment. Each of the 14 participants performed a memorization and a recall exercise twice, with the second attempt being accompanied by the taste of mustard in both the memorizing and recalling phases. The number of words they were able to recall from the task without mustard was compared to their performance with mustard, with the intent of noticing a significant difference in success, or lack thereof. The experiment sought to discover how many of the participants witnessed an increase in ability between the two conditions. In the end, the results showed a generally heightened performance when the participants incorporated mustard into their memory tasks, suggesting a potential relationship between sensory input such as taste, and overall recall ability.

Introduction

Memory is undoubtedly a well-studied topic in the field of psychology. Numerous researchers have dedicated their time to investigating all aspects of memory, including one of arguably the most interesting: context dependent memory. While this process is typically described as an increase in memory recollection when a person is in the same location as they were when they were learning a particular piece of information, other, non-visual types of sensory input can also serve as a catalyst for this spontaneous recall effect. Instances of context dependent memory based on surroundings have been investigated on several occasions, with one such study finding that “items were better recalled when retrieved in the same context as the study context” (Shin et al., 2021).

Besides visual stimuli, other senses that commonly incur this phenomenon are the senses of smell and taste. Olfactory stimuli can help in the creation of particularly strong memories, as “odors take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, the regions related to emotion and memory” (Walsh, 2020). Interestingly, the neural processes for taste are not at all dissimilar to those of smell. In fact, they are two of the most interconnected senses, as they must frequently collaborate in order to produce the experience of flavor.

Although the combination of these two aspects of memory—context-dependent memory and the senses—are decidedly less studied, there’s still some research on the subject. In fact, one study investigating the effect of odor on memory recall found that their results “indicated support for the predicted interaction in which presence of the same odor at both sessions led to better overall performance” (Cann & Ross, 1989). However, even with this study, the overlap of context dependent memory and the senses remains a topic with little coverage. This current experiment was devised with intention to pursue this line of thinking and discover how taste would affect memory recall.

For the study, it was predicted that the addition of gustatory stimuli during the process of memorization and recall would positively affect an individual’s performance in the latter task. The experiment utilized a within-subjects design, where each participant took part in both the experimental and control groups, in an attempt to garner more data. An “increase in performance” was operationally defined as remembering a larger number of words than in the first attempt.

Discussion

Overall, the amount of participants whose performance was improved by the addition of mustard does suggest a practical link between our senses and memory recall. The study’s initial hypothesis that the mustard would improve participants’ ability to remember the words proved true in most cases, although not all. Despite the results proving that well over half of the participants saw their score improve with the addition of mustard, the fact remains that about 36% of participants did not witness this positive effect when the stimulus was deployed.

Of course, no research is flawless, and therefore these results are not necessarily foolproof. Naturally, with such a small group of participants, it is difficult to come to a definite conclusion on any topic, even if the experiment results were particularly decisive. As for the validity of the results, one possible, alternate reason to explain participants’ increase in recall ability during the mustard task could simply be that they were more attuned to the exercise. It’s possible that the second time around, the participants were used to the memorization test and knew what to expect, thus boosting their scores without any assistance from the gustatory stimuli. In order to assess and eliminate this possibility, an additional, revised study would need to be conducted.

However, despite some inconsistencies in the results, this study does report an intriguing amount of improvement in participants’ recall abilities when the stimulus was added, generally supporting the study’s hypothesis. The results of the experiment conducted may not be entirely conclusive, but they could have proved that the relationship between context dependent memory and the sense of taste is worth further attention and research.