Adult-Like Odor Preferences and Aversions in Three-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Previous studies of young children have failed to demonstrate adult-like odor preferences in children less than 5 years old. To test whether these results may have been due to inappropriate methods or to stimulus sets that were too limited in range to capture discriminations, a forced-choice procedure embedded in a simple game was used to contrast 3-year-olds' (n = 16) and adults' (n = 17) hedonic reactions to 9 odorants. Subjects indicated liking an odor by pointing to one puppet and disliking an odor by pointing to another puppet. Analyses revealed essentially the same pattern of preferences in both groups. In general, the odorant was a much better predictor of its hedonic quality than was the age of the subject. However, children and adults did differ in their ratings of some odors, and response patterns indicated that children may be more sensitive than adults to some odorants (e.g., the steroid androstenone). These data indicate that the predominant view that adult-like odor preferences and aversions do not exist until between 5 and 7 years of age must be reevaluated.

Genetics of Taste and Smell

“…Although there may also be some innate preferences, smell is probably more flexible and amenable to learning 159 when compared to taste. This point is particularly relevant when we consider olfaction as a sentry against spoiled food: The products of fermentation can be perceived as wholesome or harmful, depending on context.…”

A prospective study of food preferences in childhood

“…Consistently, no age difference in cheese liking was reported in French children and adolescents (Fischler & Chiva, 1985). Cheese odour might be unpleasant in itself (K€ oster, 2002): a cheese-like odorant (butyric acid) was shown to provoke negative facial reactions in newborns in contrast with vanillin (Soussignan, Schaal, Marlier, & Jiang, 1997) and to be disliked by 3-year-old children (Schmidt & Beauchamp, 1988). However, other data suggest that the dislike for smells evoking decay (such as cheese smell) would be acquired (Engen, 1982;Rozin & Fallon, 1987).…”

Male Sexual Orientation Affects Sensitivity to Androstenone

“…Another factor important for androstenone perception seems to be the hormonal status; as the olfactory threshold changes during puberty, pleasantness judgments vary with the female menstrual cycle, and men and women show significant differences in their ability to smell androstenone Hummel et al 1991Hummel et al , 2005Schmidt and Beauchamp 1988). Within this rationale, homosexual men's higher sensitivity to androstenone as compared to heterosexual men may originate from hormonal differences between those groups.…”

“…While almost all prepubescent children are able to detect androstenone (Schmidt and Beauchamp 1988), significantly more men than women lose the ability during puberty . Moreover, the remaining osmic men become less sensitive to androstenone and androstadienone after puberty (Hummel et al 2005).…”