Humans recognize the world by five senses, but when and how, the capability to integrate around the senses arises is debated. Research represent that humans compile sensory information together, particularly when a sense is not capable to produce enough response alone. Studies also demonstrate that infants may be utilize multisensory cues to distinguish their environments quickly and efficiently.
A new Child Development study performed by researchers at the Université de Bourgogne, University of Hamburg, Université de Lyon, Institut Universitaire de France, Université de Lorraine, Centre Hospitalier de Nancy, and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) tracked when and how 4 to 12 months French infants utilize their mother’s scent to distinguish faces. Results assist scientists confirm that the capability to distinguish faces majorly improves between 4 to 12 months, with the younger infants advantage the most through the existance of their mother’s body odor. This study also propose that older infants quickly and efficiently distinguish faces through visual information, and they don’t need to anticipate on other simultaneous cues anymore.
Researcher has longstanding interest in when how sensory perception works in the brain of humans. Despite its evident simplicity (e.g., we open our eyes to see), perception is a complicated neurocognitive capability derived through the previous experience with different – different stimulations coming through all the senses at the single time. Therefore, characterizing how multi-sensory inputs are managed through the younger infant brain is critical and very hard to understanding perception in various senses and its development until adulthood.
In the addition, research on multi-sensory perception is majorly focused on investigation and vision, the “dominant” senses in human beings compared to smell or olfaction, which has very long been detained as malfunctioning in our species. However, a body of research suggests that human infant sense of smell is especially developed, where as other senses like vision are broadly immature. This is why a major purpose of this research is to measure whether and how smell fosters and shapes the evolution of visual perception in the brain of infant.
In previous studies, researchers already represented that the quick perception of faces, which are very highly related visual inputs for human infants, is formed through another highly important sensory signals for them, mother’s body odor/smell. To do that, researchers relied on electroencephalography (EEG) and determine a face-selective neurological response that is increased through the existence of the mother’s odor/smell in the 4month-old brain of infant.
Here, Researchers aim was to measure whether this smell-to-visual supports declines gradually as infant grow and become more effective at distinguish faces merely from the visual information, as previously showed for other associations between two senses. Such early exposure to frequent intersensory connections is also an essential component for later growth of higher-level abilities such as memory for language and conceptual reasoning. As a result, it’s critical to introduce babies to a range of cues associated with the same objects at an early age.
Reference
Rekow, D., Baudouin, J.-Y., Kiseleva, A., Rossion, B., Durand, K., Schaal, B., & Leleu, A. (2024). Olfactory-to-visual facilitation in the infant brain declines gradually from 4 to 12 months. Child Development, 00, 1–15.
