LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT OF ODOR IDENTIFICATION, LEARNING, AND OLFACTORYSENSITIVITY

In the first of three studies, children (aged 8 to 14 years) were foun d to perform worse than young and middle-aged adults in unprompted ide ntification of odors, with average performance much like that of elder ly adults. Comparisons on other tasks, specifically odor threshold, pr ompted odor identification, and object naming (Boston Naming Test), ac ross the life span (five groups) revealed that children have the same excellent olfactory sensitivity as young adults and merely lack odor-s pecific knowledge that accumulates slowly through life. Such knowledge apparently accumulates so slowly that age-associated discriminative l osses, measurable by early middle age, begin to wear away gains obtain ed through experience before odors can become overlearned. In the seco nd study, a novel adaptive psychophysical method, the step procedure, confirmed the equivalent sensitivity of children and young adults. In the third study, a paired-associate task illustrated the sluggish cour se of odor learning. Young adults outperformed children, though the yo ungest group, first graders, made up ground relatively fast. For child ren and adults, common odors facilitated performance relative to novel odors. The outcome highlighted the relevance of semantic factors in o dor learning irrespective of age.