Resumen:This chapter deals with the initial state of olfactory functioning in the human infant and its changes during early development. The authors first survey some recent research on sensory and hedonic discrimination of odors at the very beginning of cognition. They then address such issues as whether or not olfactory competence is predisposed to process certain kinds of stimuli during early development. By which experience-dependent or experience-independent mechanisms is olfactory cognition shaped? How variable are individuals' trajectories of olfactory development as functions of the early odor environment?