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8 février 2012


Smell strengthens the mother-child bond

[1 August 2008 - 12h33]

At birth, babies quickly recognise the smell of their mother. And this first contact is essential to their future relationship. For the first time, a team of American researchers has deciphered the process that allows babies to identify their mother’s smell. It’s all a matter of neuronal connections and these have been studied in the brains of newborn rats.

The researchers have identified two receptors that appear to play a major role in babies’ sense of smell. When a baby breathes in the smell of its mother, neurotransmitter activity diminishes in an area of the baby’s brain known as the lateral olfactory tract. This slowing down generates new neuronal connections in this area, this time thanks to other receptors. These new neuronal connections will in turn enable the infant to identify and remember its mother’s natural smell… forever.

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