Smell learned associations

The vomeronasal organ (VNO), located in the nose, is a small chemical sensing stmcture associated with odors and behavioral effects. The vomeronasal system, which is made up of the VNO and a portion of the brain s limbic system, is stmcturaHy independent of the olfactory and nervous terminalis systems in the nose. It may, however, interact with these systems in a manner dependent on prior experience or learning, and therefore be direcdy related to the association of smells and experiences. This independent chemosensory system in the nose may prove to open doors to new learning associated with the sense of smell and human behavior. 

Healthy newborn human infants are endowed with a highly sensitive sense of smell. Moreover, there are documented accounts of olfactory learning during the early postpartum period. In the present chapter, we present a brief overview of the relevant research literature and suggest tentatively that olfactory learning may be facilitated by neurochemical activities associated with labor and delivery, and memory traces of odors learned shortly after birth may be retained more efficiently than early postnatal memories involving other sensory modalities (i.e., vision and audition). 

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