德国吕贝克大学(University of Lubeck)的研究人员邀请74位受测者参加试验，让他们进行卡片配对试验，也就是将印有不同图案的卡片在观看一段时间后覆转，再找出两张相同卡片。受试者在进行游戏之后睡觉，其中一组受测者在睡觉时在房内放出玫瑰花香，睡醒后发现他们配对卡片的成功率较其它组别高。此研究发表于3月份的Science期刊。
研究人员以功能性核磁共振摄影法(Functional magnetic resonance imaging，fMRI)来观测受测者脑波情况，结果显示在慢波睡眠期(slow-wave sleep，SWS)给予玫瑰香气有助于明示记忆(declarative memory，属于短期记忆的一种)的强化，在慢波睡眠期有闻到香气的组别，其卡片配对成功率高达97.2%，而没有闻玫瑰香气的组别，卡片配对成功率只有85.8%。
研究人员也发现在不同的睡眠时期给予香气也会有不同的效果，例如：在快速动眼期(rapid eye movement，REM)给予香气则没有增强明示记忆的效果。Jan Born教授表示：从核磁共振摄影中能明显看到，当玫瑰香气飘散过来时，慢波睡眠期的海马回区(hippocampus，即负责学习新事物的大脑区域)有显著活动的情形。
(资料来源 : Bio.com)
部分英文原文：
Science 9 March 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5817, pp. 1426 - 1429
DOI: 10.1126/science.1138581
Reports
Odor Cues During Slow-Wave Sleep Prompt Declarative Memory Consolidation
Björn Rasch,1* Christian Büchel,2 Steffen Gais,1 Jan Born1*
Sleep facilitates memory consolidation. A widely held model assumes that this is because newly encoded memories undergo covert reactivation during sleep. We cued new memories in humans during sleep by presenting an odor that had been presented as context during prior learning, and so showed that reactivation indeed causes memory consolidation during sleep. Re-exposure to the odor during slow-wave sleep (SWS) improved the retention of hippocampus-dependent declarative memories but not of hippocampus-independent procedural memories. Odor re-exposure was ineffective during rapid eye movement sleep or wakefulness or when the odor had been omitted during prior learning. Concurring with these findings, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed significant hippocampal activation in response to odor re-exposure during SWS.
1 Department of Neuroendocrinology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160/23a, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
2 NeuroImage Nord, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: born@kfg.uni-luebeck.de (J.B.); rasch@kfg.uni-luebeck.de (B.R.)
