Recall of Odorous Objects in Virtual Reality

Jussi Rantala, Katri Salminen, Poika Isokoski, Ville Nieminen, Markus Karjalainen, Jari Väliaho, Philipp Müller, Anton Kontunen, Pasi Kallio, Veikko Surakka

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Abstract

The aim was to investigate how the congruence of odors and visual objects in virtual reality (VR) affects later memory recall of the objects. Participants (N = 30) interacted with 12 objects in VR. The interaction was varied by odor congruency (i.e., the odor matched the object’s visual appearance, the odor did not match the object’s visual appearance, or the object had no odor); odor quality (i.e., an authentic or a synthetic odor); and interaction type (i.e., participants could look and manipulate or could only look at objects). After interacting with the 12 objects, incidental memory performance was measured with a free recall task. In addition, the participants rated the pleasantness and arousal of the interaction with each object. The results showed that the participants remembered significantly more objects with congruent odors than objects with incongruent odors or odorless objects. Furthermore, interaction with congruent objects was rated significantly more pleasant and relaxed than interaction with incongruent objects. Odor quality and interaction type did not have significant effects on recall or emotional ratings. These results can be utilized in the development of multisensory VR applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number42
JournalMultimodal Technologies and Interaction
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • emotions
  • memory
  • odors
  • olfactory display
  • recall
  • virtual reality

Publication forum classification

  • Publication forum level 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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