Abstract
The present study examines how naming, affective arousal, and affective valence of odor cues affect autobiographical remembering. In the experiment, 118 participants rated the familiarity, affective arousal, and affective valence of 30 odor stimuli, attempted to name each odor, and then indicated whether the odor cued an autobiographical memory. If a memory was retrieved, the participant rated the memory in terms of vividness, affective arousal, and affective valence. The results indicate that odors which could be correctly named are more familiar and emotionally affective than ones that could not be correctly named. In addition, mood-congruent recall was observed. Memories cued by correctly-named odors were rated as being more vivid and emotional than memories elicited by unnamed odors. These findings suggest that naming and emotion play a significant role in odor-cued autobiographical remembering.
