White Theresa L
Le Moyne College and State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York 13214, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Jul;1170:338-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.03878.x.
How do we remember olfactory information? Is the architecture of human olfactory memory unique compared with that of memory for other types of stimuli? Ten years ago, a review article evaluated these questions, as well as the distinction between long- and short-term olfactory memory, with three lines of evidence: capacity differences, coding differences, and neuropsychological evidence, though serial position effects were also considered. From the data available at the time, the article preliminarily suggested that olfactory memory was a two-component system that was not qualitatively different from memory systems for other types of stimuli. The decade that has elapsed since then has ushered in considerable changes in theories of memory structure and provided huge advances in neuroscience capabilities. Not only have many studies exploring various aspects of olfactory memory been published, but a model of olfactory perception that includes an integral unitary memory system also has been presented. Consequently, the structure of olfactory memory is reevaluated in the light of further information currently available with the same theoretical lines of evidence previously considered. This evaluation finds that the preponderance of evidence suggests that, as in memory for other types of sensory stimuli, the short-term-long-term distinction remains a valuable dissociation for conceptualizing olfactory memory, though perhaps not as architecturally separate systems.
我们如何记忆嗅觉信息？与其他类型刺激的记忆相比，人类嗅觉记忆的结构是否独特？十年前，一篇综述文章用三条证据评估了这些问题以及长期和短期嗅觉记忆之间的区别：容量差异、编码差异和神经心理学证据，不过也考虑了系列位置效应。根据当时可得的数据，该文章初步提出嗅觉记忆是一个双成分系统，与其他类型刺激的记忆系统在性质上并无不同。从那时起的十年里，记忆结构理论发生了相当大的变化，神经科学能力也取得了巨大进展。不仅发表了许多探索嗅觉记忆各个方面的研究，还提出了一个包含完整统一记忆系统的嗅觉感知模型。因此，根据目前可得的更多信息，结合之前考虑的相同理论证据线索，对嗅觉记忆的结构进行了重新评估。这次评估发现，大量证据表明，与其他类型感觉刺激的记忆一样，短期和长期的区分对于概念化嗅觉记忆仍然是一个有价值的区分，尽管也许并非在结构上是独立的系统。
