Stevenson Richard J, Case Trevor I
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2005 Apr;12(2):244-64. doi: 10.3758/bf03196369.
Olfaction's unique cognitive architecture, the apparently inconsistent evidence favoring imagery, and its difficulty of evocation have led some to conclude that there is no capacity for olfactory imagery. Using three streams of evidence, we examine the validity of this claim. First, self-reports of olfactory imagery can resemble those obtained for actual perception. Second, imagining an odor can produce effects similar to actual perception. Third, olfactory perception and memory-based images can interact. A model of olfactory imagery is then presented that utilizes the same systems employed in actual perception, with similar constraints. This model is consistent with olfaction's unique information-processing capacities and can account for previous experimental inconsistencies on the basis of difficulty of evocation, a consequence of unstable access to semantic information. In sum, the evidence presented here is favorable to the existence of an olfactory imagery capacity.
嗅觉独特的认知结构、支持意象的明显矛盾证据及其难以唤起的特性，致使一些人得出不存在嗅觉意象能力的结论。我们运用三条证据线索来审视这一说法的正确性。其一，嗅觉意象的自我报告可能类似于实际感知所获得的报告。其二，想象一种气味能够产生与实际感知相似的效果。其三，嗅觉感知和基于记忆的意象能够相互作用。接着呈现了一个嗅觉意象模型，该模型利用了实际感知中所采用的相同系统，并具有类似的限制条件。此模型与嗅觉独特的信息处理能力相一致，并且能够基于唤起的难度（这是获取语义信息不稳定的结果）来解释先前实验中的不一致之处。总之，这里所呈现的证据支持嗅觉意象能力的存在。
