Scientists have been studying the effects of fragrances on humans for a long time. Odors can improve one’s well-being, change one’s mood, and even help with depression. Certain odors have been found to enhance concentration and memory. An experiment by German scientists led by Michael Schredl in 2014 examined yet another property of the olfactory function.
During this experiment, the authors presented the participants with two series of images of urban and rural areas. The pictures were combined with two different scents – hydrogen sulfide for the city and the scent of roses for the countryside. Participants were exposed to the odors during wakefulness and then again during REM sleep. The natural scent of fragrant roses caused memory reactivation in most of the participants. Under the influence of the scent, the volunteers saw a rural landscape in their dreams.
In 2020, this experiment served as the basis for a new study by scientists from the University of Bern in Switzerland, led by Daniel Erlacher. This time, the researchers used scents to induce lucid dreams. Sixteen participants spent one night in a sleep laboratory. The experimental odor was given to them through a special mask during wakefulness and morning REM sleep. Sleep fragmentation was combined with reality testing techniques using the scent.
Contrary to the scientists’ expectations, the procedure induced lucid dreaming in only two of the participants, which is not significant enough an effect to ascribe it to the experimental technique. However, despite this disappointment, the team is confident that olfactory stimulation techniques may still produce results in the future. According to the authors, the experiment failed due to a number of procedural errors, which they plan to correct in the future.
If they succeed it will open up a new field for research in lucid dreaming induction. What scents do you think would be effective in provoking lucid dreams?
The study was published in August 2020 in Consciousness and Cognition magazine.
