# A cognitive nose? Evaluating working memory benchmarks in the olfactory domain

## TL;DR

This paper reviews 50 years of research to see if working memory benchmarks apply to the sense of smell, finding that most do but with some exceptions.

## Contribution

The study systematically evaluates how well established working memory benchmarks generalize to the olfactory domain.

## Key findings

- Seven out of 21 working memory benchmarks generalized to olfactory working memory.
- Two benchmarks failed to generalize, and evidence was insufficient for 12 others.
- Olfactory working memory resembles higher-sense working memory but with some functional differences.

## Abstract

Working memory (WM) processes are assumed to operate on a wide variety of sensory materials, yet WM research rarely extends beyond sight and hearing. In this systematic review, we integrate research from studies that address WM in olfaction, the sense of smell, spanning the last 50 yr (N = 44). We assessed whether 21 proposed “benchmarks” for WM generalize to olfactory WM. Seven benchmarks generalized to olfaction, whereas 2 failed to generalize. Evidence was insufficient to address the remaining 12 benchmarks (4 had mixed support and 8 were yet unaddressed). We conclude that the available evidence indicates that the sense of smell has a short-term memory system that mostly resembles WM processes in “higher” senses, although there are exceptions related to how olfactory WM performance is associated with other functions. We argue that researchers studying WM should explicitly consider evidence outside of the audio-visual senses when establishing theoretical frameworks. Further, we point out avenues for future research that may help close the remaining gaps in knowledge on this neglected topic.