[Electric stimulation of the human olfactory nerve--an approach to short-term memory?].

Electrical stimulation of the human olfactory mucosa was performed by means of an electrode, which was attached to a rhinoscope. Stimulations of the nasal mucosa did not evoke the sensation of smell, but suppressed smell sensations of presented odorants. When electrical stimulation followed the exposure to an odorant within a certain interval, the stimulus recalled the faded sensation of the preceding odorant. Electrical stimulation without prior natural stimulation produced unpleasant sensations in three patients with a history of temporal lobe seizures and olfactory auras, but not in patients with primary generalized or focal epilepsy.