Project “Parfum d’images”
Does the sense of smell influence memory in infants?
This question has not yet been studied. The “Parfum d’images” project, supported by the 5 senses for kids Foundation, aims to answer this question.
This scientific project “Parfum d’images” aims to define what impact a smell has on the visual memory of the infant, in order to identify the role of the combination of sensory information for a harmonious development during the first months of life.
Bibliography used
In order to better understand this project, we also propose the following bibliography:
. M. Proust, Du côté de chez Swann (1913) (Gallimard, 1988).
s. Chu, J. J. Downes, Proust nose best: Odors are better cues of autobiographical memory. Mem. Cognit. 30, 511-518 (2002).
. B. Schaal, T. K. Saxton, H. Loos, R. Soussignan, K. Durand, Olfaction scaffolds the developing human from neonate to adolescent and beyond. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 375, 20190261 (2020).
. S. Doucet, R. Soussignan, P. Sagot, B. Schaal, The “smellscape” of mother’s breast: Effects of odor masking and selective unmasking on neonatal arousal, oral, and visual responses. Dev. Psychobiol. 49, 129-138 (2007).
. K. Durand, J.-Y. Baudouin, D. J. Lewkowicz, N. Goubet, B. Schaal, Eye-catching odors: Olfaction elicits sustained gazing to faces and eyes in 4-month-old infants. PLoS One 8, e70677 (2013).
. A. Leleu, et al, Maternal odor shapes rapid face categorization in the infant brain. Dev. Sci. 23, e12877 (2020).