The effect of the rose essential oil aroma on university students’ learning and short-term memory: A randomized controlled trial

Aim: This randomized controlled experimental study analyzes the effect of the rose essential oil aroma on university students’ learning and recalling of information in short-term memory. Material and methods: The study sample consisted of 131 students who had never attended hypoglycemia management education (first year), who had recently attended this education (sophomore), and who had attended this education a long time ago (third year). The experimental group was administered a pre-test before the education, and rose essential oil aroma was administered for all tests during and after the education. The control group only received the education and was administered the tests. Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the pre-test and post-test mean scores of the experimental and control groups in third year students but the differences between the mean scores on the tests administered on the 7th and 30th days were statistically significant. A statistically significant difference was found between the post-test mean scores obtained by the experimental group students who had (second and third year) and had not (first year) attended this education on the 7th day. Conclusion: This study found that the smell of rose extract did not affect immediate learning (working memory). However, it also indicated that people can remember previously learned information more easily when they repeat it using the essential oil of Rosa damascena. The study results suggest that students should review their studies between the 7th and 30th days after learning information in order to benefit from the effect of the odor of rose extract.