But the study found that the scent-aid only worked for certain kinds of memory and only during one stage of sleep, which means it's not likely to help people seeking a quick memory lift, the Associated Press reported.
The study found that medical students who slept in rooms with a rose scent scored higher on a card memory test than those who weren't exposed to the rose scent - 97 percent vs. 86 percent.
However, the memory improvement only occurred when the students were exposed to the rose scent during a deep stage of sleep called slow-wave sleep. There was no memory boost when the students were exposed to the scent during a lighter sleep phase called REM sleep, the AP reported.
However, the scent was not effective when the students tried a finger-tapping sequence memory test. This is likely because different parts of the brain are involved with different types of memory, the researchers said. – (HealthDayNews)
Read more:Sleep Centre
Sleep fuels new memories
March 2007