Science / Medicine : Newborns’ Response to Odors

Newborn babies can learn to respond to a pungent smell much earlier than was thought--within the first 48 hours of birth, four UC Irvine researchers reported in the April issue of the national medical journal Pediatrics.

After using “classical conditioning” methods with babies just 1 day old, the scientists described “the first demonstration of complex olfactory learning” in newborns.

Previous studies have shown that newborns can detect numerous odors and also retain some memory of a smell, they said. Studies have also shown babies were capable of this kind of learning several days after birth. But this study, from UCI’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, showed that hours after birth, normal babies can be taught to prefer a distinct odor.