Simple fragrance method boosts cognitive capacity: study

Weak science.<p>They ran a battery of 12 tests and looked for one with a statistically significant difference at the 5% level.<p>If there were no actual differences, how many tests would you need to run to find at least one that by chance shows significance? If you run 20, you’d expect 5% to do so, on average, which is 1. Running 12 and finding 1 is not a significant finding.<p>Then, suspiciously, the only statistically significant cognitive test improvement they found was on trial 5 of a verbal learning test, which showed little to no improvement on any of the other trials. That makes no sense.<p>Finally the brain changes had a p-value of 0.046, which is barely significant by even the weak 5% threshold, and the brain changes weren’t correlated with the test result improvements.<p>Perhaps interesting, but only if replicated.

Reminds me of the 1963 Czech SciFi film &#x27;&#x27;Ikarie XB 1&#x27;&#x27; and how deep space crew members used olifactory cartridges somewhat cigarette-like, triggering memories and stimulating earthly sensations. Fast forward to 15:48 for one of those scenes lasting about 1 minute:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;ikarie-xb-1-1963" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;ikarie-xb-1-1963</a><p>It seems to me a market will be there if UCI&#x27;s fragrance method is safe and inexpensive.

Here&#x27;s a paper on the effects of rosemary on long term memory [1]. And a great video explaining how aromatherapy is believed to work [2]. After I saw these, I went and bought a bottle of rosemary extract and was surprised to find out it smell exactly like VapoRub to me (even though it doesn&#x27;t contain any).<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;article&#x2F;pii&#x2F;S2314808X16301890" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;article&#x2F;pii&#x2F;S2314808X1...</a><p>2. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;zackfqlOwZ4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;zackfqlOwZ4</a>

&gt; The key analysis was a 2 × 2 mixed ANOVA with Time (Pre vs. Post) as the repeated (within subjects) measure and Group (Control vs. Treated) as the across-subjects measure. Given the matching of other variables including age, gender and years of education, we did not include these variables as covariates in the model. A two-sided P less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. We used SAS9.4 for all statistical analyses.<p>Can anyone explain why is it reasonable to assume normality here?

Smell as a trigger for childhood memories in very old people is well known. All kinds of smells: horse poo for instance, woke up some very apathetic older people to talk about their memories of time before cars were common.

Isn&#x27;t that study financed by P&amp;G aka maker of Febreeze?

&quot;A product based on their study and designed for people to use at home is expected to come onto the market this fall.&quot;<p>Obvious Question: Does Procter &amp; Gamble have any involvement with this product?

Aromatherapy: Making Dollars out of Scents<p>&quot;Aromatherapy has most of the attributes needed to thrive in the quack marketplace. As far as I know, however, its advocates are not pressing for inclusion under national health insurance. &quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.srmhp.org&#x2F;archives&#x2F;aromatherapy.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.srmhp.org&#x2F;archives&#x2F;aromatherapy.html</a><p>....

methods that boost cognitive capacity that definitely work that no one is surprised by:<p>sleeping 8 hours a night (if you aren&#x27;t someone who requires less)<p>eating healthy food usually involving lots of plants<p>aerobic exercise<p>meditation<p>removing distractions from your life<p>reading and learning new things<p>There is plenty of availability of all of these things that diligent efforts on them can pay enormous dividends and it&#x27;s difficult to overdo. There isn&#x27;t a need to do other things to achieve this goal unless you&#x27;re sacrificing part of your likely needs...

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37004418">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37004418</a>

i always knew my scratch &amp; sniff sticker collection would one day come in handy.

I really wish I could just take these sort of results at face value the way I used to. But the replication crisis was real. It happened. No doubt its still happening. How could we ever read something like this and not just dismiss it out of hand?<p>226% boost in cognitive capacity? From a scent, delivered to a population which is old enough to be experiencing subtantial age-related smelling loss?<p>Is it just me? If so what am I missing?

&gt; It involved men and women aged 60 to 85 without memory impairment. All were given a diffuser and seven cartridges, each containing a single and different natural oil. People in the enriched group received full-strength cartridges. Control group participants were given the oils in tiny amounts. Participants put a different cartridge into their diffuser each evening prior to going to bed, and it activated for two hours as they slept. People in the enriched group showed a 226% increase in cognitive performance compared to the control group, as measured by a word list test commonly used to evaluate memory.

Aside from comments claiming that the article is BS because it is funded by P&amp;G, I can tell that aromatherapy works.<p>Be scientific, try it yourself.<p>1. Get 100% lavender oil, put a couple of drops onto your pillow before sleep. Sleep and see how rested you are.<p>2. Get a diffuser. Set it up drop a few drops of lavender oil in it. Let it run while you watch a movie, read news etc. Feel the relaxation and calm.<p>3. Drop a few drops of peppermint oil into the diffuser before you do a task that requires concentration. Feel the alertness.<p>I do not know about the health benefits, but essential oils work on me if I want to relax or increase my attention passively.

And thus, the spice must flow.<p>When I was a child I looked forward to all the amazing medical breakthroughs that would come in my lifetime. Now all I can imagine are companies patenting them, stifling innovation and causing prices to skyrocket.<p>Glad this &#x27;article&#x27; is BS.