Doctor Trying to Sell the Smell of Success

What if John Q. Student studies and studies but is still flunking? The manufacturer of a product called Study Styx says the answer is to . . . inhale.

The $9.95 “stick” is a marker-like tube filled with the scent of lavender, fennel or eucalyptus. The scent is so concentrated that, to some, it’s nauseating. Alicejane Lippner, the New Jersey doctor whose firm makes the product--”Doctor developed!” the label boasts, “Based on scientific research!”--says students score higher on tests if they sniff it first while studying and then again during the exam. The theory: the scent will revive memories of the material the student was reviewing when he or she first smelled it.

Rachel Herz, an experimental psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the impact of aromas on performance, doesn’t dismiss the concept. In fact, researchers have found that, under certain circumstances, aromas can boost test scores by 15% or more. But she offers a couple of caveats.

First, the odors have to be unfamiliar--so that smelling them again triggers only the appropriate set of memories. And that causes another problem. Says Herz: “The smell you use for your geography exam should not be used in your chemistry exam.”