Evidence that phenomenal olfactory content exceeds what can later be accessed.
Consciousness and cognition November 1, 2014 Richard J Stevenson, Mehmet Mahmut 1 citation
Visual experience contains more information than can later be recalled, and this study tested whether the same distinction exists for smell. In two experiments, participants rated odor features (e.g., how banana-like) both while smelling and after the odor was removed. On some trials the ratings matched; on others they differed. Each odor was presented twice: for half the odors both trials were identical, for the rest one trial differed. The after-smelling rating was always the same for each odor, allowing reliability to be measured. Incongruent profiles were least reliable. Attempting to access specific odor features after the odor is gone is harder if those features were not attended during smelling, suggesting more information is available during smelling than can be accessed afterward.