Expertise and memory for beers and beer olfactory compounds

Do beer experts have better recognition memory for beers than novices? And can recognition memory for beers be predicted on the basis of recognition memory for beer odor compounds? We compared the memory performance of “beer experts” and novices in two recognition tasks. The first task was performed ortho- and retronasally with beers, and the second orthonasally with beer odor compounds. As a control we also compared the performance of “experts” and novices on an identification task and a same/different discrimination task. “Beer experts” outperformed novices in both the identification task and the recognition memory task with both beers and odor compounds, but only for beers they had been trained on (familiar beers), and regardless of the type of odors (familiar vs. unfamiliar). “Experts” were only marginally superior in the beer discrimination task. This suggests that the experts’ advantage in recognition memory is likely to have its source in more efficient coding and retrieval in long-term memory, rather than in better perceptual ability. No significant correlation was found between odor and beer memory performance, which suggests that, during training, “experts” might develop independent memory structures for odor compounds and for beers.