Olfactory imprinting.

The term imprinting is used to refer to biologically relevant learning during a sensitive period defined by a particular developmental stage or physiological state. Although olfactory imprinting may occur at any age, and some of the best-studied paradigms involve adult animals, recent reports of long-term memory for odorants experienced during prenatal life present a particular challenge to our understanding of olfactory learning. Firstly, it is possible that these paradigms represent a form of exposure learning based on mechanisms different to the more familiar associative paradigms. Secondly, given the substantial addition of neural elements occurring during the perinatal period, these paradigms raise the question as to how the olfactory system, and eventually the brain, is able to acquire and retain information under conditions of major neural growth and change.