Pieniak Michal, Rokosz Marta, Nawrocka Paulina, Reichert Aleksandra, Zyzelewicz Barbara, Mahmut Mehmet K, Oleszkiewicz Anna
Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland.
Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2025 Apr;35(3):524-545. doi: 10.1080/09602011.2024.2343484. Epub 2024 May 19.
Systematic exposure to odours (olfactory training, OT) is a method of smell loss treatment. Due to olfactory system projections to prefrontal brain areas, OT has been hypothesized to enhance cognitive functions, but its effects have been studied predominantly in adults. This study tested OT effects on working memory (WM), i.e., the ability to store and manipulate information for a short time, in healthy children aged 6-9 years. We expected OT to improve olfactory WM and establish cross-modal transfer to visual and auditory WM. Participants performed 12 weeks of bi-daily OT with either 4 odours (lemon, eucalyptus, rose, cloves; OT group) or odourless propylene glycol (placebo group). Pre- and post-training, participants' WM was measured utilizing odours (olfactory WM) or pictures (visual WM) and a word-span task (auditory WM). 84 children (40 girls) completed the study. The analyses revealed no changes in the WM performance following OT. The olfactory WM task was the most difficult for children, highlighting the need to include olfactory-related tasks in educational programmes to improve children's odour knowledge and memory, just as they learn about sounds and pictures. Further neuroimaging research is needed to fully understand the impact of OT on cognitive functions in children.
系统性接触气味（嗅觉训练，OT）是一种嗅觉丧失的治疗方法。由于嗅觉系统投射到前额叶脑区，因此有人推测OT可增强认知功能，但主要在成年人中研究了其效果。本研究测试了OT对6至9岁健康儿童工作记忆（WM）的影响，即短时间内存储和处理信息的能力。我们期望OT能改善嗅觉工作记忆，并建立向视觉和听觉工作记忆的跨模态转移。参与者进行了为期12周的每日两次OT，使用4种气味（柠檬、桉树、玫瑰、丁香；OT组）或无味的丙二醇（安慰剂组）。在训练前和训练后，利用气味（嗅觉工作记忆）或图片（视觉工作记忆）以及单词广度任务（听觉工作记忆）测量参与者的工作记忆。84名儿童（40名女孩）完成了研究。分析显示OT后工作记忆表现没有变化。嗅觉工作记忆任务对儿童来说是最难的，这凸显了在教育计划中纳入与嗅觉相关任务以提高儿童气味知识和记忆的必要性，就像他们学习声音和图片一样。需要进一步的神经影像学研究来充分了解OT对儿童认知功能的影响。
