Remembered Odors and Mental Mixtures: Tapping Reservoirs of Olfactory Knowledge

Five experiments explored how (a) perceived and remembered odor intensities relate to concentration; (b) odor intensities integrate in perceptual, memorial, and mentally constructed mixtures; and (c) components vary in intensity in physical versus mental mixtures. Ss estimated the magnitude of unmixed stimuli presented physically (perceptual estimation) or represented symbolically (memorial estimation). Ss also judged mixtures and their components in combinations of perceptual and memorial presentation. Power functions with similar exponents described the relations between both perceived and remembered intensity and concentration. Perceptual, memorial, and mental mixtures all followed much the same interactive rule of integration. Correspondingly, the intensities of components varied similarly in mentally constructed and physical mixtures. The results imply intensive invariance across odor perception and odor memory.