title: The effect of a salient odor context on memory retrieval in young infants.
abstract: Three-month-old infants were trained to move a mobile in the presence of a coconut or cherry odor (context). One or 5 days later, the infants were tested for retrieval in the presence of either the same odor, the alternate odor, or no odor. Infants tested with the training odor displayed retention at both intervals; retention was not seen at either interval in the alternate odor or no odor conditions. These data suggest that the odor combines with the mobile to form a compound-stimulus representation of the learned task whose presence after both short (1 day) and long (5 days) intervals is a necessary retrieval cue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, St. John's University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schroers
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prigot
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fagen
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D009812:Odorants; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception