title: Neonatal representation of odour objects: distinct memories of the whole and its parts.
abstract: Extraction of relevant information from highly complex environments is a prerequisite to survival. Within odour mixtures, such information is contained in the odours of specific elements or in the mixture configuration perceived as a whole unique odour. For instance, an AB mixture of the element A (ethyl isobutyrate) and the element B (ethyl maltol) generates a configural AB percept in humans and apparently in another species, the rabbit. Here, we examined whether the memory of such a configuration is distinct from the memory of the individual odorants. Taking advantage of the newborn rabbit's ability to learn odour mixtures, we combined behavioural and pharmacological tools to specifically eliminate elemental memory of A and B after conditioning to the AB mixture and evaluate consequences on configural memory of AB. The amnesic treatment suppressed responsiveness to A and B but not to AB. Two other experiments confirmed the specific perception and particular memory of the AB mixture. These data demonstrate the existence of configurations in certain odour mixtures and their representation as unique objects: after learning, animals form a configural memory of these mixtures, which coexists with, but is relatively dissociated from, memory of their elements. This capability emerges very early in life.
authors.affiliation: Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation (CSGA), UMR 6265 CNRS, UMR 1324 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, 9E Boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France gerard.coureaud@u-bourgogne.fr.
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coureaud
authors.affiliation: Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation (CSGA), UMR 6265 CNRS, UMR 1324 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, 9E Boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thomas-Danguin
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Donald A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Nutrition and Integrative Neurobiology group, INRA UMR 1286, 33000 Bordeaux, France Université de Bordeaux, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000447:Aldehydes; D000647:Amnesia / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D045424:Complex Mixtures; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011422:Propionates; D011753:Pyrones; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D000447:Aldehydes; D045424:Complex Mixtures; D011422:Propionates; D011753:Pyrones; C480346:2-methyl-2-butenal; C546702:ethyl 2-methylpropanoate; C052408:ethyl maltol
keywords: Oryctolagus cuniculus; configural perception; memory; newborn; odour mixture; representation