6533b856fe1ef96bd12b2ff1
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Infants and Children Making Sense of Scents
Benoist Schaalsubject
Value (ethics)musculoskeletal neural and ocular physiologyOdor discriminationmedia_common.quotation_subject05 social sciencesNoveltyCognitionSensory systemOdor identification050105 experimental psychology03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineOdor0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesQuality (business)Psychologypsychological phenomena and processes030217 neurology & neurosurgerymedia_commonCognitive psychologydescription
This chapter summarizes research on the development of human olfactory skills to rely on different cues conveyed by odorants, such as odor quality, intensity, position in space, novelty/familiarity, and hedonic value. The sensory, neural, and psychological dimensions at the root of these early aptitudes remain poorly explored in humans, but one can safely affirm that any weak odor to which the infant has previously been nonadversely exposed will have a higher reinforcing value than any novel odor. Developmental differences in odor discrimination and appreciation are certainly causally multiple and may depend on general or olfaction-specific cognitive factors which can be traced back to prenatal or neonatal olfactory exposure effects. But some odors may also be unconditionally attractive or aversive from birth due to genetic or epigenetic factors.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-01-01 |