INTERFERENCE WITH OLFACTORY MEMORY BY VISUAL AND VERBAL TASKS

It has been claimed that olfactory memory is distinct from memory in o ther modalities. This study investigated the effectiveness of visual a nd verbal tasks in interfering with olfactory memory and included meth odological changes from other recent studies. Subjects were allocated to one of four experimental conditions involving interference tasks [n o interference task; visual task; verbal task; visual-plus-verbal task ] and presented 15 target odours. Either recognition of the odours or free recall of the odour names was tested on one occasion, either with in 15 minutes of presentation or one week later. Recognition and recal l performance both showed effects of interference of visual and verbal tasks but there was no effect for time of testing. While the results may be accommodated within a dual coding framework, further work is in dicated to resolve theoretical issues relating to task complexity.