1
|
Bratman GN, Bembibre C, Daily GC, Doty RL, Hummel T, Jacobs LF, Kahn PH, Lashus C, Majid A, Miller JD, Oleszkiewicz A, Olvera-Alvarez H, Parma V, Riederer AM, Sieber NL, Williams J, Xiao J, Yu CP, Spengler JD. Nature and human well-being: The olfactory pathway. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadn3028. [PMID: 38748806 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn3028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
The world is undergoing massive atmospheric and ecological change, driving unprecedented challenges to human well-being. Olfaction is a key sensory system through which these impacts occur. The sense of smell influences quality of and satisfaction with life, emotion, emotion regulation, cognitive function, social interactions, dietary choices, stress, and depressive symptoms. Exposures via the olfactory pathway can also lead to (anti-)inflammatory outcomes. Increased understanding is needed regarding the ways in which odorants generated by nature (i.e., natural olfactory environments) affect human well-being. With perspectives from a range of health, social, and natural sciences, we provide an overview of this unique sensory system, four consensus statements regarding olfaction and the environment, and a conceptual framework that integrates the olfactory pathway into an understanding of the effects of natural environments on human well-being. We then discuss how this framework can contribute to better accounting of the impacts of policy and land-use decision-making on natural olfactory environments and, in turn, on planetary health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gregory N Bratman
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Cecilia Bembibre
- Institute for Sustainable Heritage, University College London, London, UK
| | - Gretchen C Daily
- Natural Capital Project, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Woods Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Richard L Doty
- Smell and Taste Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Thomas Hummel
- Interdisciplinary Center Smell and Taste, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Lucia F Jacobs
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Peter H Kahn
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Connor Lashus
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Asifa Majid
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Anna Oleszkiewicz
- Interdisciplinary Center Smell and Taste, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wrocław, Poland
| | | | | | - Anne M Riederer
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Nancy Long Sieber
- T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jonathan Williams
- Air Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Climate and Atmosphere Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Jieling Xiao
- College of Architecture, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Chia-Pin Yu
- School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
- The Experimental Forest, College of Bio-Resources and Agriculture, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | - John D Spengler
- T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Jacoby N, Polak R, Grahn JA, Cameron DJ, Lee KM, Godoy R, Undurraga EA, Huanca T, Thalwitzer T, Doumbia N, Goldberg D, Margulis EH, Wong PCM, Jure L, Rocamora M, Fujii S, Savage PE, Ajimi J, Konno R, Oishi S, Jakubowski K, Holzapfel A, Mungan E, Kaya E, Rao P, Rohit MA, Alladi S, Tarr B, Anglada-Tort M, Harrison PMC, McPherson MJ, Dolan S, Durango A, McDermott JH. Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:846-877. [PMID: 38438653 PMCID: PMC11132990 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01800-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Music is present in every known society but varies from place to place. What, if anything, is universal to music cognition? We measured a signature of mental representations of rhythm in 39 participant groups in 15 countries, spanning urban societies and Indigenous populations. Listeners reproduced random 'seed' rhythms; their reproductions were fed back as the stimulus (as in the game of 'telephone'), such that their biases (the prior) could be estimated from the distribution of reproductions. Every tested group showed a sparse prior with peaks at integer-ratio rhythms. However, the importance of different integer ratios varied across groups, often reflecting local musical practices. Our results suggest a common feature of music cognition: discrete rhythm 'categories' at small-integer ratios. These discrete representations plausibly stabilize musical systems in the face of cultural transmission but interact with culture-specific traditions to yield the diversity that is evident when mental representations are probed across many cultures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nori Jacoby
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Rainer Polak
- RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jessica A Grahn
- Brain and Mind Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daniel J Cameron
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kyung Myun Lee
- School of Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Graduate School of Culture Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Ricardo Godoy
- Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
| | - Eduardo A Undurraga
- Escuela de Gobierno, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars programme, CIFAR, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Tomás Huanca
- Centro Boliviano de Investigación y Desarrollo Socio Integral, San Borja, Bolivia
| | | | - Noumouké Doumbia
- Sciences de l'Education, Université Catholique d'Afrique de l'Ouest, Bamako, Mali
| | - Daniel Goldberg
- Department of Music, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | | | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics & Modern Languages and Brain and Mind Institute, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Luis Jure
- School of Music, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Martín Rocamora
- Signal Processing Department, School of Engineering, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Music Technology Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Shinya Fujii
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | - Patrick E Savage
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Jun Ajimi
- Department of Traditional Japanese Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Rei Konno
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | - Sho Oishi
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | | | - Andre Holzapfel
- Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Esra Mungan
- Department of Psychology, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ece Kaya
- Max Planck Research Group 'Neural and Environmental Rhythms', Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Cognitive Science Master Program, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Preeti Rao
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
| | - Mattur A Rohit
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
| | | | - Bronwyn Tarr
- Department of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Manuel Anglada-Tort
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
| | - Peter M C Harrison
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Malinda J McPherson
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Sophie Dolan
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
| | - Alex Durango
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Josh H McDermott
- Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
- Program in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Center for Brains, Minds & Machines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Henrich J, Muthukrishna M. What Makes Us Smart? Top Cogn Sci 2024; 16:322-342. [PMID: 37086053 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
How did humans become clever enough to live in nearly every major ecosystem on earth, create vaccines against deadly plagues, explore the oceans depths, and routinely traverse the globe at 30,000 feet in aluminum tubes while nibbling on roasted almonds? Drawing on recent developments in our understanding of human evolution, we consider what makes us distinctively smarter than other animals. Contrary to conventional wisdom, human brilliance emerges not from our innate brainpower or raw computational capacities, but from the sharing of information in communities and networks over generations. We review how larger, more diverse, and more optimally interconnected networks of minds give rise to faster innovation and how the cognitive products of this cumulative cultural evolutionary process feedback to make us individually "smarter"-in the sense of being better at meeting the challenges and problems posed by our societies and socioecologies. Here, we consider not only how cultural evolution supplies us with "thinking tools" (like counting systems and fractions) but also how it has shaped our ontologies (e.g., do germs and witches exist?) and epistemologies, including our notions of what constitutes a "good reason" or "good evidence" (e.g., are dreams a source of evidence?). Building on this, we consider how cultural evolution has organized and distributed cultural knowledge and cognitive tasks among subpopulations, effectively shifting both thinking and production to the level of the community, population, or network, resulting in collective information processing and group decisions. Cultural evolution can turn mindless mobs into wise crowds by facilitating and constraining cognition through a wide variety of epistemic institutions-political, legal, and scientific. These institutions process information and aid better decision-making by suppressing or encouraging the use of different cultural epistemologies and ontologies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Henrich
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
| | - Michael Muthukrishna
- Department of Psychological and Behavioral Science, London School of Economics and Political Science
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Banks B, Borghi AM, Fargier R, Fini C, Jonauskaite D, Mazzuca C, Montalti M, Villani C, Woodin G. Consensus Paper: Current Perspectives on Abstract Concepts and Future Research Directions. J Cogn 2023; 6:62. [PMID: 37841672 PMCID: PMC10573588 DOI: 10.5334/joc.238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
concepts are relevant to a wide range of disciplines, including cognitive science, linguistics, psychology, cognitive, social, and affective neuroscience, and philosophy. This consensus paper synthesizes the work and views of researchers in the field, discussing current perspectives on theoretical and methodological issues, and recommendations for future research. In this paper, we urge researchers to go beyond the traditional abstract-concrete dichotomy and consider the multiple dimensions that characterize concepts (e.g., sensorimotor experience, social interaction, conceptual metaphor), as well as the mediating influence of linguistic and cultural context on conceptual representations. We also promote the use of interactive methods to investigate both the comprehension and production of abstract concepts, while also focusing on individual differences in conceptual representations. Overall, we argue that abstract concepts should be studied in a more nuanced way that takes into account their complexity and diversity, which should permit us a fuller, more holistic understanding of abstract cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Briony Banks
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, UK
| | - Anna M. Borghi
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Raphaël Fargier
- Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Chiara Fini
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - Domicele Jonauskaite
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Claudia Mazzuca
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - Martina Montalti
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Italy
- Department of Medicine and Surgery – Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Italy
| | - Caterina Villani
- Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Bologna, Italy
| | - Greg Woodin
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Møller P, Köster EP. Why human olfaction should not be modeled on theories and tasks of vision. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1244480. [PMID: 37829060 PMCID: PMC10565516 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1244480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
In this paper we analyze some key concepts and problems in olfaction and argue that many concepts borrowed from vision are not helpful in elucidating the functions of human olfaction. This is illustrated with several examples. Olfaction is rarely in the focus of human attention. Olfaction is, compared to vision, a 'hidden sense', but still guides many important behaviors by way of unattended unconscious olfactory perception and implicit memory. Not all olfactory processing, however, is of an unconscious nature. Flavors, and the pleasures gained from them, are most often consciously perceived. These are experiences mostly determined by olfaction, taste, touch and chemesthesis. Our analyses lead us to conclude that olfaction should not be modeled on vision, neither conceptually nor with respect to the problems solved by the two senses. A critical examination of the ecological and physical constraints of olfaction and the other senses should be given priority. Such analyses will further our understanding of which problems are solved by the different senses and how they collaborate to guide us through the world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Per Møller
- Per Møller Consulting, Bagsværd, Denmark
| | - Egon P. Köster
- Helmholtz Institute, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Veilleux CC, Garrett EC, Pajic P, Saitou M, Ochieng J, Dagsaan LD, Dominy NJ, Perry GH, Gokcumen O, Melin AD. Human subsistence and signatures of selection on chemosensory genes. Commun Biol 2023; 6:683. [PMID: 37400713 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05047-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Chemosensation (olfaction, taste) is essential for detecting and assessing foods, such that dietary shifts elicit evolutionary changes in vertebrate chemosensory genes. The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture dramatically altered how humans acquire food. Recent genetic and linguistic studies suggest agriculture may have precipitated olfactory degeneration. Here, we explore the effects of subsistence behaviors on olfactory (OR) and taste (TASR) receptor genes among rainforest foragers and neighboring agriculturalists in Africa and Southeast Asia. We analyze 378 functional OR and 26 functional TASR genes in 133 individuals across populations in Uganda (Twa, Sua, BaKiga) and the Philippines (Agta, Mamanwa, Manobo) with differing subsistence histories. We find no evidence of relaxed selection on chemosensory genes in agricultural populations. However, we identify subsistence-related signatures of local adaptation on chemosensory genes within each geographic region. Our results highlight the importance of culture, subsistence economy, and drift in human chemosensory perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carrie C Veilleux
- Department of Anatomy, Midwestern University, 19555 N 59th Ave, Glendale, AZ, 85308, USA.
- Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
| | - Eva C Garrett
- Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 232 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Petar Pajic
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, 109 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA
| | - Marie Saitou
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, 109 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA
| | - Joseph Ochieng
- Department of Anatomy, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Lilia D Dagsaan
- National Commission for Indigenous Peoples, Botolan, Philippines
| | - Nathaniel J Dominy
- Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, 6047 Silsby Hall, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA
| | - George H Perry
- Departments of Anthropology and Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Omer Gokcumen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, 109 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA
| | - Amanda D Melin
- Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada.
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, 3330 Hospital Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Do humans agree on which body odors are attractive, similar to the agreement observed when rating faces and voices? EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
|
8
|
Wnuk E, Verkerk A, Levinson SC, Majid A. Color technology is not necessary for rich and efficient color language. Cognition 2022; 229:105223. [PMID: 36113197 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of basic color terms in language is claimed to be stimulated by technological development, involving technological control of color or exposure to artificially colored objects. Accordingly, technologically "simple" non-industrialized societies are expected to have poor lexicalization of color, i.e., only rudimentary lexica of 2, 3 or 4 basic color terms, with unnamed gaps in the color space. While it may indeed be the case that technology stimulates lexical growth of color terms, it is sometimes considered a sine qua non for color salience and lexicalization. We provide novel evidence that this overlooks the role of the natural environment, and people's engagement with the environment, in the evolution of color vocabulary. We introduce the Maniq-nomadic hunter-gatherers with no color technology, but who have a basic color lexicon of 6 or 7 terms, thus of the same order as large languages like Vietnamese and Hausa, and who routinely talk about color. We examine color language in Maniq and compare it to available data in other languages to demonstrate it has remarkably high consensual color term usage, on a par with English, and high coding efficiency. This shows colors can matter even for non-industrialized societies, suggesting technology is not necessary for color language. Instead, factors such as perceptual prominence of color in natural environments, its practical usefulness across communicative contexts, and symbolic importance can all stimulate elaboration of color language.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ewelina Wnuk
- Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw, 00-681 Warsaw, Poland; Department of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1H 0BW, United Kingdom.
| | - Annemarie Verkerk
- Department of Language Science and Technology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
| | - Stephen C Levinson
- Radboud University, 6500 HD Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Asifa Majid
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Herz RS, Bajec MR. Your Money or Your Sense of Smell? A Comparative Analysis of the Sensory and Psychological Value of Olfaction. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12030299. [PMID: 35326256 PMCID: PMC8946147 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12030299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
In public discourse, the sense of smell is typically characterized as the least important of the five senses. However, there are very little empirical data on this topic. Recently, much more attention has been brought to the sense of smell since olfactory dysfunction is a primary and often long-term symptom of COVID-19 infection. It was therefore of interest to expand research on the perceived value of olfaction in the current cultural condition. We developed a survey that directly compared the value of the senses of smell, hearing, and vision with each other and in relation to nine common items representing digital, material, personal, and physical commodities of varying social and emotional meaningfulness (phone, $10,000, favorite social media, online shopping, favorite streaming service, dream vacation, pet, hair, little left toe). In total, four hundred and seven female and male respondents comprising two life-stage groups (college students, general public adults) participated in our online survey study during winter–spring of 2021. The results reveal that the sense of smell was perceived as vastly less important than vision and hearing and much less valuable than various common commodities. We also found that life-stage and gender mediated our findings. For example, one-quarter of the college student respondents would give up their sense of smell in order to keep their phone and nearly half of all women would give up their sense of smell to keep their hair. Our data further illustrate that the senses of vision and hearing are valued relatively similarly. A number of questions arise from the present data and suggestions for ways in which our survey can be expanded and altered to address further research are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel S. Herz
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Medical School, Providence, RI 02912, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
- Correspondence:
| | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
A Review of Human-Elephant Ecological Relations in the Malay Peninsula: Adaptations for Coexistence. DIVERSITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/d14010036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the relationship between humans and elephants is of particular interest for reducing conflict and encouraging coexistence. This paper reviews the ecological relationship between humans and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the rainforests of the Malay Peninsula, examining the extent of differentiation of spatio-temporal and trophic niches. We highlight the strategies that people and elephants use to partition an overlapping fundamental niche. When elephants are present, forest-dwelling people often build above-the-ground shelters; and when people are present, elephants avoid open areas during the day. People are able to access several foods that are out of reach of elephants or inedible; for example, people use water to leach poisons from tubers of wild yams, use blowpipes to kill arboreal game, and climb trees to access honey. We discuss how the transition to agriculture affected the human–elephant relationship by increasing the potential for competition. We conclude that the traditional foraging cultures of the Malay Peninsula are compatible with wildlife conservation.
Collapse
|
11
|
Smell-induced gamma oscillations in human olfactory cortex are required for accurate perception of odor identity. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001509. [PMID: 34986157 PMCID: PMC8765613 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Revised: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of neuronal oscillations have contributed substantial insight into the mechanisms of visual, auditory, and somatosensory perception. However, progress in such research in the human olfactory system has lagged behind. As a result, the electrophysiological properties of the human olfactory system are poorly understood, and, in particular, whether stimulus-driven high-frequency oscillations play a role in odor processing is unknown. Here, we used direct intracranial recordings from human piriform cortex during an odor identification task to show that 3 key oscillatory rhythms are an integral part of the human olfactory cortical response to smell: Odor induces theta, beta, and gamma rhythms in human piriform cortex. We further show that these rhythms have distinct relationships with perceptual behavior. Odor-elicited gamma oscillations occur only during trials in which the odor is accurately perceived, and features of gamma oscillations predict odor identification accuracy, suggesting that they are critical for odor identity perception in humans. We also found that the amplitude of high-frequency oscillations is organized by the phase of low-frequency signals shortly following sniff onset, only when odor is present. Our findings reinforce previous work on theta oscillations, suggest that gamma oscillations in human piriform cortex are important for perception of odor identity, and constitute a robust identification of the characteristic electrophysiological response to smell in the human brain. Future work will determine whether the distinct oscillations we identified reflect distinct perceptual features of odor stimuli. Intracranial recordings from human olfactory cortex reveal a characteristic spectrotemporal response to odors, including theta, beta and gamma oscillations, and show that high-frequency responses are critical for accurate perception of odors.
Collapse
|
12
|
AKHTAR MUHAMMADSHOAIB, ASHINO RYUICHI, OOTA HIROKI, ISHIDA HAJIME, NIIMURA YOSHIHITO, TOUHARA KAZUSHIGE, MELIN AMANDAD, KAWAMURA SHOJI. Genetic variation of olfactory receptor gene family in a Japanese population. ANTHROPOL SCI 2022. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.211024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- MUHAMMAD SHOAIB AKHTAR
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa
| | - RYUICHI ASHINO
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa
| | - HIROKI OOTA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
| | - HAJIME ISHIDA
- Department of Human Biology and Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara
| | - YOSHIHITO NIIMURA
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki
| | - KAZUSHIGE TOUHARA
- Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
| | - AMANDA D. MELIN
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology & Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Calgary
| | - SHOJI KAWAMURA
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Speed LJ, Croijmans I, Dolscheid S, Majid A. Crossmodal Associations with Olfactory, Auditory, and Tactile Stimuli in Children and Adults. Iperception 2021; 12:20416695211048513. [PMID: 34900211 PMCID: PMC8652194 DOI: 10.1177/20416695211048513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
People associate information with different senses but the mechanism by which this happens is unclear. Such associations are thought to arise from innate structural associations in the brain, statistical associations in the environment, via shared affective content, or through language. A developmental perspective on crossmodal associations can help determine which explanations are more likely for specific associations. Certain associations with pitch (e.g., pitch-height) have been observed early in infancy, but others may only occur late into childhood (e.g., pitch-size). In contrast, tactile-chroma associations have been observed in children, but not adults. One modality that has received little attention developmentally is olfaction. In the present investigation, we explored crossmodal associations from sound, tactile stimuli, and odor to a range of stimuli by testing a broad range of participants. Across the three modalities, we found little evidence for crossmodal associations in young children. This suggests an account based on innate structures is unlikely. Instead, the number and strength of associations increased over the lifespan. This suggests that experience plays a crucial role in crossmodal associations from sound, touch, and smell to other senses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura J Speed
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ilja Croijmans
- Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Sarah Dolscheid
- Department of Rehabilitation and Special Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Biopsychology & Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Asifa Majid
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Downey G. Echolocation among the blind: an argument for an ontogenetic turn. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1467-9655.13607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Greg Downey
- Macquarie School of Social Sciences Macquarie University Room B514, Level 5, 25B Wally's Walk NSW 2109 Australia
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Damon F, Mezrai N, Magnier L, Leleu A, Durand K, Schaal B. Olfaction in the Multisensory Processing of Faces: A Narrative Review of the Influence of Human Body Odors. Front Psychol 2021; 12:750944. [PMID: 34675855 PMCID: PMC8523678 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.750944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A recent body of research has emerged regarding the interactions between olfaction and other sensory channels to process social information. The current review examines the influence of body odors on face perception, a core component of human social cognition. First, we review studies reporting how body odors interact with the perception of invariant facial information (i.e., identity, sex, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and dominance). Although we mainly focus on the influence of body odors based on axillary odor, we also review findings about specific steroids present in axillary sweat (i.e., androstenone, androstenol, androstadienone, and estratetraenol). We next survey the literature showing body odor influences on the perception of transient face properties, notably in discussing the role of body odors in facilitating or hindering the perception of emotional facial expression, in relation to competing frameworks of emotions. Finally, we discuss the developmental origins of these olfaction-to-vision influences, as an emerging literature indicates that odor cues strongly influence face perception in infants. Body odors with a high social relevance such as the odor emanating from the mother have a widespread influence on various aspects of face perception in infancy, including categorization of faces among other objects, face scanning behavior, or facial expression perception. We conclude by suggesting that the weight of olfaction might be especially strong in infancy, shaping social perception, especially in slow-maturing senses such as vision, and that this early tutoring function of olfaction spans all developmental stages to disambiguate a complex social environment by conveying key information for social interactions until adulthood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Damon
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, Inrae, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS (UMR 6265), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
16
|
Abstract
Do we talk about some colors more often than others? And do the colors we communicate about most frequently vary across cultures? A classic finding shows that languages around the world partition colors into words in remarkably similar, although not identical, ways. The biology of human color perception helps explain similar color vocabularies across languages, but less is known about how often speakers need to reference different colors. The inference method we develop reveals extensive variation in communicative needs across colors, and a diversity in needs across 130 languages, which helps explain variation in their color vocabularies. Our results open the door to studying cross-cultural variation in demands on different colors, and factors that drive color demands in linguistic communities. Names for colors vary widely across languages, but color categories are remarkably consistent. Shared mechanisms of color perception help explain consistent partitions of visible light into discrete color vocabularies. But the mappings from colors to words are not identical across languages, which may reflect communicative needs—how often speakers must refer to objects of different color. Here we quantify the communicative needs of colors in 130 different languages by developing an inference algorithm for this problem. We find that communicative needs are not uniform: Some regions of color space exhibit 30-fold greater demand for communication than other regions. The regions of greatest demand correlate with the colors of salient objects, including ripe fruits in primate diets. Our analysis also reveals a hidden diversity in the communicative needs of colors across different languages, which is partly explained by differences in geographic location and the local biogeography of linguistic communities. Accounting for language-specific, nonuniform communicative needs improves predictions for how a language maps colors to words, and how these mappings vary across languages. Our account closes an important gap in the compression theory of color naming, while opening directions to study cross-cultural variation in the need to communicate different colors and its impact on the cultural evolution of color categories.
Collapse
|
17
|
Abstract
Psychological research in small-scale societies is crucial for what it stands to tell us about human psychological diversity. However, people in these communities, typically Indigenous communities in the global South, have been underrepresented and sometimes misrepresented in psychological research. Here I discuss the promises and pitfalls of psychological research in these communities, reviewing why they have been of interest to social scientists and how cross-cultural comparisons have been used to test psychological hypotheses. I consider factors that may be undertheorized in our research, such as political and economic marginalization, and how these might influence our data and conclusions. I argue that more just and accurate representation of people from small-scale communities around the world will provide us with a fuller picture of human psychological similarity and diversity, and it will help us to better understand how this diversity is shaped by historical and social processes. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- H Clark Barrett
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA;
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
de Groot JHB. Smells in Sustainable Environments: The Scented Silk Road to Spending. Front Psychol 2021; 12:718279. [PMID: 34489823 PMCID: PMC8417554 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Humanity's demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what earth can regenerate in that year, creating an urgent need for more sustainable behavior. Here, the focus is on a particular factor that so far has been overlooked in facilitating sustainable behavior, namely smell. The two-fold aim of this study was (i) to investigate whether ambient scent could enhance customers' subjective experience and spending behavior in a sustainable environment, and (ii) to elucidate the affective and cognitive pathways from scent to spending. To test this, a double-blind field experiment was designed where customers of a second-hand clothing store (N = 57) could face one of three conditions: fresh linen scent (pleasant and semantically priming "clean clothing" increasing the products' value), vanilla sandalwood scent (pleasant control odor), or regular store odor (odorless control). Buttressed by prior research, the fresh linen scent was expected to cause the strongest increase in spending behavior due to its positive semantic association with the product (i.e., clean clothing). The results indeed showed that fresh linen scent almost doubled consumer spending vs. the odorless control and the pleasant control odor. Other factors potentially affecting consumer behavior (e.g., weekday, weather, odor awareness) were uncorrelated. Whereas a conceptually-driven mediation analysis showed that only fresh linen scent increased mood and evaluations of the store, staff, and products, these variables did not mediate the relation between scent and spending. An explorative structural equation model suggested cognitive priming to be mainly responsible for increasing consumers' spending in the fresh linen condition by enhancing the general store evaluation. Further support is needed to corroborate the indirect findings that specific scents can follow a "cold" semantic road and a "hot" affective road to spending. At minimum, consumers are no "zombies" that empty their pockets in the presence of whatever odor; the smell needs to have a meaningful link to the (sustainable) context at hand to influence consumer behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jasper H. B. de Groot
- Department of Social and Cultural Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Talking About Temperature and Social Thermoregulation in the Languages of the World. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.5334/irsp.410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
|
20
|
Pellegrino R, Hörberg T, Olofsson J, Luckett CR. Duality of Smell: Route-Dependent Effects on Olfactory Perception and Language. Chem Senses 2021; 46:6278057. [PMID: 34007980 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjab025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Olfactory research in humans has largely focused on odors perceived via sniffing, orthonasal olfaction, whereas odors perceived from the mouth, retronasal olfaction, are less well understood. Prior work on retronasally presented odors involves animal models and focus mainly on odor sensitivity, but little is known about retronasal olfactory perception and cognition in humans. In this study, we compared orthonasal and retronasal odor presentation routes to investigate differences in odor descriptions and evaluations. Thirty-six individuals participated in a within-subjects study using twelve odors (varying in pleasantness and edibility) in perceptual and semantic tasks. Orthonasal presentation was associated with a better ability to identify odors, and with more concrete (and source-based) language. Exploratory analyses revealed that whereas orthonasal odors were described with words that had visual associations, retronasal odors were described with words that had interoceptive associations. Interestingly, these route-dependent differences in descriptor usage were not explained by differences in sensitivity and intensity, suggesting instead a cognitive and linguistic processing difference between odors presented orthonasally and retronasally. Our results indicate that olfaction is, in fact, a dual sense, in which the routes change the perception of an odor.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Pellegrino
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, 2510 River Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Thomas Hörberg
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology Stockholm University, Frescati hagväg 9, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, Universitetsvägen 10C, 114 18 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jonas Olofsson
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology Stockholm University, Frescati hagväg 9, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Curtis R Luckett
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, 2510 River Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Olfactory Language Requires an Integrative and Interdisciplinary Approach. Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:421-422. [PMID: 33757700 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
|
22
|
Kowalewski J, Huynh B, Ray A. A System-Wide Understanding of the Human Olfactory Percept Chemical Space. Chem Senses 2021; 46:6153471. [PMID: 33640959 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjab007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The fundamental units of olfactory perception are discrete 3D structures of volatile chemicals that each interact with specific subsets of a very large family of hundreds of odorant receptor proteins, in turn activating complex neural circuitry and posing a challenge to understand. We have applied computational approaches to analyze olfactory perceptual space from the perspective of odorant chemical features. We identify physicochemical features associated with ~150 different perceptual descriptors and develop machine-learning models. Validation of predictions shows a high success rate for test set chemicals within a study, as well as across studies more than 30 years apart in time. Due to the high success rates, we are able to map ~150 percepts onto a chemical space of nearly 0.5 million compounds, predicting numerous percept-structure combinations. The chemical structure-to-percept prediction provides a system-level view of human olfaction and opens the door for comprehensive computational discovery of fragrances and flavors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joel Kowalewski
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Brandon Huynh
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Anandasankar Ray
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.,Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Hoover KC. Sensory disruption and sensory inequities in the Anthropocene. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:128-140. [PMID: 33580579 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2019] [Revised: 02/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Anthropogenic disruptions to animal sensory ecology are as old as our species. But what about the effect on human sensory ecology? Human sensory dysfunction is increasing globally at great economic and health costs (mental, physical, and social). Contemporary sensory problems are directly tied to human behavioral changes and activity as well as anthropogenic pollution. The evolutionary sensory ecology and anthropogenic disruptions to three human senses (vision, audition, olfaction) are examined along with the economic and health costs of functionally reduced senses and demographic risk factors contributing to impairment. The primary goals of the paper are (a) to sew an evolutionary and ecological thread through clinical narratives on sensory dysfunction that highlights the impact of the built environment on the senses, and (b) to highlight structural, demographic, and environmental injustices that create sensory inequities in risk and that promote health disparities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kara C Hoover
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Mantel M, Roy JM, Bensafi M. Accounting for Subjectivity in Experimental Research on Human Olfaction. Chem Senses 2021; 46:6065098. [PMID: 33403395 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although olfaction is a modality with great interindividual perceptual disparities, its subjective dimension has been let aside in modern research, in line with the overall neglect of consciousness in experimental psychology. However, following the renewed interest for the neural bases of consciousness, some methodological leads have been proposed to include subjectivity in experimental protocols. Here, we argue that adapting such methods to the field of olfaction will allow to rigorously acquire subjective reports, and we present several ways to do so. This will improve the understanding of diversity in odor perception and its underlying neural mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marylou Mantel
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR INSERM, CH Le Vinatier Bat, Bron, Cedex, France.,Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Parvis Descartes, Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Michel Roy
- Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Parvis Descartes, Lyon, France
| | - Moustafa Bensafi
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR INSERM, CH Le Vinatier Bat, Bron, Cedex, France
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Jraissati Y, Deroy O. Categorizing Smells: A Localist Approach. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e12930. [PMID: 33389758 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Humans are poorer at identifying smells and communicating about them, compared to other sensory domains. They also cannot easily organize odor sensations in a general conceptual space, where geometric distance could represent how similar or different all odors are. These two generalities are more or less accepted by psychologists, and they are often seen as connected: If there is no conceptual space for odors, then olfactory identification should indeed be poor. We propose here an important revision to this conclusion: We believe that the claim that there is no odor space is true only if by odor space, one means a conceptual space representing all possible odor sensations, in the paradigmatic sense used for instance for color. However, in a less paradigmatic sense, local conceptual spaces representing a given subset of odors do exist. Thus the absence of a global odor space does not warrant the conclusion that there is no olfactory conceptual map at all. Here we show how a localist account provides a new interpretation of experts and cross-cultural categorization studies: Rather than being exceptions to the poor olfactory identification and communication usually seen elsewhere, experts and cross-cultural categorization are here taken to corroborate the existence of local conceptual spaces.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yasmina Jraissati
- Ronin Institute.,Department of Philosophy, American University of Beirut
| | - Ophelia Deroy
- Faculty of Philosophy, Ludwig Maximilian University.,Munich Centre for Neuroscience, Ludwig Maximilian University.,Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Majid A. Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 25:111-123. [PMID: 33349546 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2020] [Revised: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The human sense of smell can accomplish astonishing feats, yet there remains a prevailing belief that olfactory language is deficient. Numerous studies with English speakers support this view: there are few terms for odors, odor talk is infrequent, and naming odors is difficult. However, this is not true across the world. Many languages have sizeable smell lexicons - smell is even grammaticalized. In addition, for some cultures smell talk is more frequent and odor naming easier. This linguistic variation is as yet unexplained but could be the result of ecological, cultural, or genetic factors or a combination thereof. Different ways of talking about smells may shape aspects of olfactory cognition too. Critically, this variation sheds new light on this important sensory modality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Asifa Majid
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Human spatial memory implicitly prioritizes high-calorie foods. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15174. [PMID: 33033270 PMCID: PMC7545094 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72570-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
All species face the important adaptive problem of efficiently locating high-quality nutritional resources. We explored whether human spatial cognition is enhanced for high-calorie foods, in a large multisensory experiment that covertly tested the location memory of people who navigated a maze-like food setting. We found that individuals incidentally learned and more accurately recalled locations of high-calorie foods – regardless of explicit hedonic valuations or personal familiarity with foods. In addition, the high-calorie bias in human spatial memory already became evident within a limited sensory environment, where solely odor information was available. These results suggest that human minds continue to house a cognitive system optimized for energy-efficient foraging within erratic food habitats of the past, and highlight the often underestimated capabilities of the human olfactory sense.
Collapse
|
28
|
Gisladottir RS, Ivarsdottir EV, Helgason A, Jonsson L, Hannesdottir NK, Rutsdottir G, Arnadottir GA, Skuladottir A, Jonsson BA, Norddahl GL, Ulfarsson MO, Helgason H, Halldorsson BV, Nawaz MS, Tragante V, Sveinbjornsson G, Thorgeirsson T, Oddsson A, Kristjansson RP, Bjornsdottir G, Thorgeirsson G, Jonsdottir I, Holm H, Gudbjartsson DF, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson H, Sulem P, Stefansson K. Sequence Variants in TAAR5 and Other Loci Affect Human Odor Perception and Naming. Curr Biol 2020; 30:4643-4653.e3. [PMID: 33035477 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2019] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Olfactory receptor (OR) genes in humans form a special class characterized by unusually high DNA sequence diversity, which should give rise to differences in perception and behavior. In the largest genome-wide association study to date based on olfactory testing, we investigated odor perception and naming with smell tasks performed by 9,122 Icelanders, with replication in a separate sample of 2,204 individuals. We discovered an association between a low-frequency missense variant in TAAR5 and reduced intensity rating of fish odor containing trimethylamine (p.Ser95Pro, pcombined = 5.6 × 10-15). We demonstrate that TAAR5 genotype affects aversion to fish odor, reflected by linguistic descriptions of the odor and pleasantness ratings. We also discovered common sequence variants in two canonical olfactory receptor loci that associate with increased intensity and naming of licorice odor (trans-anethole: lead variant p.Lys233Asn in OR6C70, pcombined = 8.8 × 10-16 and pcombined = 1.4 × 10-9) and enhanced naming of cinnamon (trans-cinnamaldehyde; intergenic variant rs317787-T, pcombined = 5.0 × 10-17). Together, our results show that TAAR5 genotype variation influences human odor responses and highlight that sequence diversity in canonical OR genes can lead to enhanced olfactory ability, in contrast to the view that greater tolerance for mutations in the human OR repertoire leads to diminished function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rosa S Gisladottir
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; School of Humanities, University of Iceland, Saemundargata 2, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland.
| | - Erna V Ivarsdottir
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Agnar Helgason
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Department of Anthropology, University of Iceland, Saemundargata 10, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Lina Jonsson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Medicinaregatan 13, SE-405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden; The Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Blå Stråket 15, 413 45, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Magnus O Ulfarsson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Hannes Helgason
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Bjarni V Halldorsson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; School of Technology, Reykjavik University, Menntavegur 1, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Muhammad S Nawaz
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | | | | | | | - Asmundur Oddsson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | | | | | - Gudmundur Thorgeirsson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Vatnsmyrarvegur 16, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Landspitali, The National University Hospital of Iceland, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Ingileif Jonsdottir
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Vatnsmyrarvegur 16, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Department of Immunology, Landspitali, The National University Hospital of Iceland, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Hilma Holm
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Daniel F Gudbjartsson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Unnur Thorsteinsdottir
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Vatnsmyrarvegur 16, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | | | - Patrick Sulem
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Kari Stefansson
- deCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Vatnsmyrarvegur 16, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland.
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Apicella C, Norenzayan A, Henrich J. Beyond WEIRD: A review of the last decade and a look ahead to the global laboratory of the future. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
|
30
|
Barrett HC. Towards a Cognitive Science of the Human: Cross-Cultural Approaches and Their Urgency. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 24:620-638. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2020] [Revised: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
|
31
|
Kowalewski J, Ray A. Predicting Human Olfactory Perception from Activities of Odorant Receptors. iScience 2020; 23:101361. [PMID: 32731170 PMCID: PMC7393469 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Odor perception in humans is initiated by activation of odorant receptors (ORs) in the nose. However, the ORs linked to specific olfactory percepts are unknown, unlike in vision or taste where receptors are linked to perception of different colors and tastes. The large family of ORs (~400) and multiple receptors activated by an odorant present serious challenges. Here, we first use machine learning to screen ~0.5 million compounds for new ligands and identify enriched structural motifs for ligands of 34 human ORs. We next demonstrate that the activity of ORs successfully predicts many of the 146 different perceptual qualities of chemicals. Although chemical features have been used to model odor percepts, we show that biologically relevant OR activity is often superior. Interestingly, each odor percept could be predicted with very few ORs, implying they contribute more to each olfactory percept. A similar model is observed in Drosophila where comprehensive OR-neuron data are available. Machine learning predicted activity of 34 human ORs for ~0.5 million chemicals Activities of human ORs could predict odor character using machine learning Few OR activities were needed to optimize predictions of each odor percept Behavior predictions in Drosophila also need few olfactory receptor activities
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joel Kowalewski
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Anandasankar Ray
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Arshamian A, Manko P, Majid A. Limitations in odour simulation may originate from differential sensory embodiment. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190273. [PMID: 32306876 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Across diverse lineages, animals communicate using chemosignals, but only humans communicate about chemical signals. Many studies have observed that compared with other sensory modalities, communication about smells is relatively rare and not always reliable. Recent cross-cultural studies, on the other hand, suggest some communities are more olfactorily oriented than previously supposed. Nevertheless, across the globe a general trend emerges where olfactory communication is relatively hard. We suggest here that this is in part because olfactory representations are different in kind: they have a low degree of embodiment, and are not easily expressed as primitives, thereby limiting the mental manipulations that can be performed with them. New exploratory data from Dutch children (9-12 year-olds) and adults support that mental imagery from olfaction is weak in comparison with vision and audition, and critically this is not affected by language development. Specifically, while visual and auditory imagery becomes more vivid with age, olfactory imagery shows no such development. This is consistent with the idea that olfactory representations are different in kind from representations from the other senses. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Olfactory communication in humans'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Artin Arshamian
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Patricia Manko
- Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Asifa Majid
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Roberts SC, Havlíček J, Schaal B. Human olfactory communication: current challenges and future prospects. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190258. [PMID: 32306869 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Although anthropologists frequently report the centrality of odours in the daily lives and cultural beliefs of many small-scale communities, Western scholars have historically considered the sense of smell as minimally involved in human communication. Here, we suggest that the origin and persistence of this latter view might be a consequence of the fact that most research is conducted on participants from Western societies who, collectively, were rather old (adults), deodorized and desensitized (ODD) to various aspects of olfactory perception. The view is rapidly changing, however, and this themed issue provides a timely overview of the current state-of-the-art on human chemocommunication. Based on evolutionary models of communication, the papers cover both general mechanisms of odour production by 'senders' and odour perception by 'receivers'. Focus on specific functional contexts includes reciprocal impact of odours between infants and mothers, the role of odour in mate choice and how odours communicate emotion and disease. Finally, a position paper outlines pitfalls and opportunities for the future, against the context of the replication crisis in psychology. We believe a more nuanced view of human chemical communication is within our grasp if we can continue to develop inter-disciplinary insights and expand research activities beyond ODD people. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Olfactory communication in humans'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- S Craig Roberts
- Division of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Jan Havlíček
- Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 42 Prague 2, Czech Republic
| | - Benoist Schaal
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory, Centre for Taste, Smell and Feeding Behaviour Science, UMR 6265 CNRS-Université de Bourgogne-Inra-AgroSup, Dijon, France
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Hoover KC, Botescu D, Fedurek P, Aarts S, Berbesque JC. Field-testing olfactory ability to understand human olfactory ecology. Am J Hum Biol 2020; 32:e23411. [PMID: 32153094 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Revised: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES We know little about human olfactory ability in natural settings because current knowledge derives from lab-based studies using nonrepresentative samples of convenience. The primary objective was to use a validated lab tool, the five-item odor identification test, to assess variation in olfactory ability in different environments. METHODS Using the five-item test, we conducted two repeated measures experiments that assessed participant ability to correctly identify an odor source in different odor environments. We also examined consistency in odor labelling due to documented potential bias from idiosyncrasies in odor terms. RESULTS We found no variation in olfactory ability due to environment, but this may be due to methodological biases. First, subjective bias results from idiosyncratic differences in participant labelling and researcher coding of answer correctness. Second, better ability to learn odors may provide an advantage to women. Third, reducing positive female learning bias by analyzing consistency in response (regardless of correct odor source identification) results in no sex differences but fails to assess the functional aspect of olfactory ability (naming the correct odor source). Fourth, functional olfactory ability is significantly better in women, especially in food-rich odor environments. CONCLUSIONS Environment was not a significant factor in olfactory ability in this study but that result may be confounded by methodological biases. We do not recommend odor identification as a field tool. Functional olfactory ability exhibits a sex-based pattern but consistency in recognizing the same odor does not. Food-rich odors may enhance olfactory ability in females. We discuss evolutionary and ecological implications of superior female functional olfactory ability relative to food foraging activity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kara C Hoover
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska
| | - Denisa Botescu
- Department of Anthropology, University College of London, London, UK
| | - Piotr Fedurek
- Centre for Research in Evolutionary, Social and Inter-Disciplinary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| | - Sophie Aarts
- Centre for Research in Evolutionary, Social and Inter-Disciplinary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| | - J Colette Berbesque
- Centre for Research in Evolutionary, Social and Inter-Disciplinary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Sorokowska A, Groyecka A, Karwowski M, Frackowiak T, Lansford JE, Ahmadi K, Alghraibeh AM, Aryeetey R, Bertoni A, Bettache K, Blumen S, Blazejewska M, Bortolini T, Butovskaya M, Cantarero K, Castro FN, Cetinkaya H, Chang L, Chen BB, Cunha D, David D, David OA, Dileym FA, Domínguez Espinosa ADC, Donato S, Dronova D, Dural S, Fialová J, Fisher M, Gulbetekin E, Hamamcioglu Akkaya A, Hilpert P, Hromatko I, Iafrate R, Iesyp M, James B, Jaranovic J, Jiang F, Kimamo CO, Kjelvik G, Koç F, Laar A, Lopes FDA, Macbeth G, Marcano NM, Martinez R, Mesko N, Molodovskaya N, Moradi Qezeli K, Motahari Z, Mühlhauser A, Natividade JC, Ntayi J, Oberzaucher E, Ojedokun O, Omar-Fauzee MSB, Onyishi IE, Paluszak A, Pierce JD, Pillay U, Portugal A, Razumiejczyk E, Realo A, Relvas AP, Rivas M, Rizwan M, Salkicevic S, Sarmány-Schuller I, Schmehl S, Senyk O, Sinding C, Sorbring E, Stamkou E, Stoyanova S, Šukolová D, Sutresna N, Tadinac M, Tapanya S, Teras A, Tinoco Ponciano EL, Tripathi R, Tripathi N, Tripathi M, Uhryn O, Yamamoto ME, Yoo G, Sorokowski P. Global Study of Social Odor Awareness. Chem Senses 2019; 43:503-513. [PMID: 29955865 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Olfaction plays an important role in human social communication, including multiple domains in which people often rely on their sense of smell in the social context. The importance of the sense of smell and its role can however vary inter-individually and culturally. Despite the growing body of literature on differences in olfactory performance or hedonic preferences across the globe, the aspects of a given culture as well as culturally universal individual differences affecting odor awareness in human social life remain unknown. Here, we conducted a large-scale analysis of data collected from 10 794 participants from 52 study sites from 44 countries all over the world. The aim of our research was to explore the potential individual and country-level correlates of odor awareness in the social context. The results show that the individual characteristics were more strongly related than country-level factors to self-reported odor awareness in different social contexts. A model including individual-level predictors (gender, age, material situation, education, and preferred social distance) provided a relatively good fit to the data, but adding country-level predictors (Human Development Index, population density, and average temperature) did not improve model parameters. Although there were some cross-cultural differences in social odor awareness, the main differentiating role was played by the individual differences. This suggests that people living in different cultures and different climate conditions may still share some similar patterns of odor awareness if they share other individual-level characteristics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Agata Groyecka
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
| | | | | | | | - Khodabakhsh Ahmadi
- Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ahmad M Alghraibeh
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Anna Bertoni
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Karim Bettache
- Department of Psychology, Monash University, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia
| | - Sheyla Blumen
- Department of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica Del Perú, Lima, Peru
| | | | - Tiago Bortolini
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Unit, D'Or Institute for Research and Education, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Marina Butovskaya
- Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.,National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Katarzyna Cantarero
- Faculty in Sopot, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sopot, Poland
| | - Felipe Nalon Castro
- Laboratory of Evolution of Human Behavior, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal City, Brazil
| | | | - Lei Chang
- Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macau, China
| | - Bin-Bin Chen
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Diana Cunha
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Daniel David
- International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Oana A David
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Fahd A Dileym
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Silvia Donato
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Daria Dronova
- Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Seda Dural
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Jitka Fialová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Maryanne Fisher
- Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada
| | | | | | - Peter Hilpert
- School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Surrey, UK
| | - Ivana Hromatko
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Raffaella Iafrate
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Mariana Iesyp
- Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine
| | - Bawo James
- Department of Clinical Services, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Benin-City, Nigeria
| | | | - Feng Jiang
- Department of Organization and Human Resources Management, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China
| | | | - Grete Kjelvik
- Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (MH), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Firat Koç
- Faculty of Literature, Department of Anthropology, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
| | - Amos Laar
- School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Fívia de Araújo Lopes
- Laboratory of Evolution of Human Behavior, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal City, Brazil
| | - Guillermo Macbeth
- Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, National University of Entre Rios, Concepción del Uruguay, Argentina
| | | | - Rocio Martinez
- Department of Social Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Norbert Mesko
- Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | | | | | | | | | - Jean Carlos Natividade
- Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Joseph Ntayi
- Faculty of Computing and Management Science, Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda
| | | | - Oluyinka Ojedokun
- Department of Pure and Applied Psychology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria
| | | | - Ike E Onyishi
- Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
| | - Anna Paluszak
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
| | - John D Pierce
- College of Science, Health, and the Liberal Arts, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - Alda Portugal
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Centre for Social Studies, University of Madeira, Funchal, Madeira
| | - Eugenia Razumiejczyk
- Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, National University of Entre Rios, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Anu Realo
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.,Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Ana Paula Relvas
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Maria Rivas
- Universidad del Magdalena, Santa Marta, Colombia
| | - Muhammad Rizwan
- Institute of Clinical Psychology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Svjetlana Salkicevic
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ivan Sarmány-Schuller
- Center of Social and Psychological Sciences SAS, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Susanne Schmehl
- Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Oksana Senyk
- Department of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine
| | - Charlotte Sinding
- INRA, Centre des Sciences du Gout et de l'Alimentation - CSGA, Dijon, France
| | - Emma Sorbring
- Centre for Child and Youth Studies, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
| | - Eftychia Stamkou
- Departament of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Stanislava Stoyanova
- Department of Psychology, South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
| | - Denisa Šukolová
- Educational Research Centre, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
| | - Nina Sutresna
- Jurusan Pendidikan Kepelatihan, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
| | - Meri Tadinac
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Sombat Tapanya
- Department of Psychiatry, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | | | | | - Ritu Tripathi
- Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bangalore, India
| | - Nachiketa Tripathi
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India
| | - Mamta Tripathi
- SRM Institute of Science and Technology, School of Management, Chennai, India
| | - Olja Uhryn
- Faculty of Psychology, Lviv State University of Internal Affairs, Lviv, Ukraine
| | - Maria Emília Yamamoto
- Laboratory of Evolution of Human Behavior, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal City, Brazil
| | - Gyesook Yoo
- Department of Child and Family Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
| | | |
Collapse
|
36
|
Groß M. Jedem sein eigener Riecher. CHEM UNSERER ZEIT 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ciuz.201980056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
|
37
|
Speed LJ, Majid A. Grounding language in the neglected senses of touch, taste, and smell. Cogn Neuropsychol 2019; 37:363-392. [DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2019.1623188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laura J. Speed
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, England
| | - Asifa Majid
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, England
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Casillas M, Rafiee A, Majid A. Iranian Herbalists, But Not Cooks, Are Better at Naming Odors Than Laypeople. Cogn Sci 2019; 43:e12763. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2018] [Revised: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marisa Casillas
- Language and Cognition Department Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
- Centre for Language Studies Radboud University
| | | | - Asifa Majid
- Language and Cognition Department Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
- Centre for Language Studies Radboud University
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour Radboud University
- Department of Psychology University of York
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Abstract
Odors are often difficult to identify and name, which leaves them vulnerable to the influence of language. The present study tests the boundaries of the effect of language on odor cognition by examining the effect of grammatical gender. We presented participants with male and female fragrances paired with descriptions of masculine or feminine grammatical gender. In Experiment 1 we found that memory for fragrances was enhanced when the grammatical gender of a fragrance description matched the gender of the fragrance. In Experiment 2 we found memory for fragrances was affected by both grammatical gender and gender associations in fragrance descriptions – recognition memory for odors was higher when the gender was incongruent. In sum, we demonstrated that even subtle aspects of language can affect odor cognition.
Collapse
|
40
|
Majid A, Burenhult N, Stensmyr M, de Valk J, Hansson BS. Olfactory language and abstraction across cultures. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0139. [PMID: 29915007 PMCID: PMC6015838 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Olfaction presents a particularly interesting arena to explore abstraction in language. Like other abstract domains, such as time, odours can be difficult to conceptualize. An odour cannot be seen or held, it can be difficult to locate in space, and for most people odours are difficult to verbalize. On the other hand, odours give rise to primary sensory experiences. Every time we inhale we are using olfaction to make sense of our environment. We present new experimental data from 30 Jahai hunter-gatherers from the Malay Peninsula and 30 matched Dutch participants from the Netherlands in an odour naming experiment. Participants smelled monomolecular odorants and named odours while reaction times, odour descriptors and facial expressions were measured. We show that while Dutch speakers relied on concrete descriptors, i.e. they referred to odour sources (e.g. smells like lemon), the Jahai used abstract vocabulary to name the same odours (e.g. musty). Despite this differential linguistic categorization, analysis of facial expressions showed that the two groups, nevertheless, had the same initial emotional reactions to odours. Critically, these cross-cultural data present a challenge for how to think about abstraction in language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Asifa Majid
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, 6525 HT Nijmegen, The Netherlands .,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525HR Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Niclas Burenhult
- Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden.,Humanities Lab, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden
| | | | - Josje de Valk
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, 6525 HT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Bill S Hansson
- Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745 Jena, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Gibson E, Futrell R, Piantadosi SP, Dautriche I, Mahowald K, Bergen L, Levy R. How Efficiency Shapes Human Language. Trends Cogn Sci 2019; 23:389-407. [PMID: 31006626 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 113] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2018] [Revised: 02/06/2019] [Accepted: 02/18/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive science applies diverse tools and perspectives to study human language. Recently, an exciting body of work has examined linguistic phenomena through the lens of efficiency in usage: what otherwise puzzling features of language find explanation in formal accounts of how language might be optimized for communication and learning? Here, we review studies that deploy formal tools from probability and information theory to understand how and why language works the way that it does, focusing on phenomena ranging from the lexicon through syntax. These studies show how a pervasive pressure for efficiency guides the forms of natural language and indicate that a rich future for language research lies in connecting linguistics to cognitive psychology and mathematical theories of communication and inference.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Edward Gibson
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | - Leon Bergen
- University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Roger Levy
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Croijmans I, Speed LJ, Arshamian A, Majid A. Measuring Multisensory Imagery of Wine: the Vividness of Wine Imagery Questionnaire. Multisens Res 2019; 32:179-195. [PMID: 31059489 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-20191340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
When we imagine objects or events, we often engage in multisensory mental imagery. Yet, investigations of mental imagery have typically focused on only one sensory modality - vision. One reason for this is that the most common tool for the measurement of imagery, the questionnaire, has been restricted to unimodal ratings of the object. We present a new mental imagery questionnaire that measures multisensory imagery. Specifically, the newly developed Vividness of Wine Imagery Questionnaire (VWIQ) measures mental imagery of wine in the visual, olfactory, and gustatory modalities. Wine is an ideal domain to explore multisensory imagery because wine drinking is a multisensory experience, it involves the neglected chemical senses (smell and taste), and provides the opportunity to explore the effect of experience and expertise on imagery (from wine novices to experts). The VWIQ questionnaire showed high internal consistency and reliability, and correlated with other validated measures of imagery. Overall, the VWIQ may serve as a useful tool to explore mental imagery for researchers, as well as individuals in the wine industry during sommelier training and evaluation of wine professionals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilja Croijmans
- 1Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,2Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Laura J Speed
- 2Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,7University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| | - Artin Arshamian
- 2Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,3Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.,4Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden.,5Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Asifa Majid
- 2Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,5Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,6Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,7University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Block E. Molecular Basis of Mammalian Odor Discrimination: A Status Report. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2018; 66:13346-13366. [PMID: 30453735 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.8b04471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Humans have 396 unique, intact olfactory receptors (ORs), G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) containing receptor-specific binding sites; other mammals have more. Activation of these transmembrane proteins by an odorant initiates a signaling cascade, evoking an action potential leading to perception of a smell. Because the number of distinguishable odorants vastly exceeds the number of ORs, research has focused on mechanisms of recognition and signaling processes for classes of odorants. In this review, selected recent examples will be presented of "deorphaned" mammalian receptors, where the OR ligands (odorants) as well as key aspects of receptor-odorant interactions were identified using odorant-mediated receptor activation data together with site-directed mutagenesis and molecular modeling. Based on cumulative evidence from OR deorphaning and olfactory receptor neuron activation studies, a receptor-ligand docking model rather than an alternative bond vibration model is suggested to best explain the molecular basis of the exquisitely sensitive odor discrimination in mammals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eric Block
- Department of Chemistry , University at Albany, SUNY , Albany , New York 12222 , United States
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Majid A, Roberts SG, Cilissen L, Emmorey K, Nicodemus B, O'Grady L, Woll B, LeLan B, de Sousa H, Cansler BL, Shayan S, de Vos C, Senft G, Enfield NJ, Razak RA, Fedden S, Tufvesson S, Dingemanse M, Ozturk O, Brown P, Hill C, Le Guen O, Hirtzel V, van Gijn R, Sicoli MA, Levinson SC. Differential coding of perception in the world's languages. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:11369-11376. [PMID: 30397135 PMCID: PMC6233065 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1720419115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Is there a universal hierarchy of the senses, such that some senses (e.g., vision) are more accessible to consciousness and linguistic description than others (e.g., smell)? The long-standing presumption in Western thought has been that vision and audition are more objective than the other senses, serving as the basis of knowledge and understanding, whereas touch, taste, and smell are crude and of little value. This predicts that humans ought to be better at communicating about sight and hearing than the other senses, and decades of work based on English and related languages certainly suggests this is true. However, how well does this reflect the diversity of languages and communities worldwide? To test whether there is a universal hierarchy of the senses, stimuli from the five basic senses were used to elicit descriptions in 20 diverse languages, including 3 unrelated sign languages. We found that languages differ fundamentally in which sensory domains they linguistically code systematically, and how they do so. The tendency for better coding in some domains can be explained in part by cultural preoccupations. Although languages seem free to elaborate specific sensory domains, some general tendencies emerge: for example, with some exceptions, smell is poorly coded. The surprise is that, despite the gradual phylogenetic accumulation of the senses, and the imbalances in the neural tissue dedicated to them, no single hierarchy of the senses imposes itself upon language.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Asifa Majid
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, 6525 HP Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Seán G Roberts
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TH, United Kingdom
| | - Ludy Cilissen
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Karen Emmorey
- School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182
| | - Brenda Nicodemus
- Department of Interpretation & Translation, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002
| | - Lucinda O'Grady
- School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182
| | - Bencie Woll
- Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Barbara LeLan
- English Studies, Université Paris IV-Sorbonne, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Hilário de Sousa
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Brian L Cansler
- Department of Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
| | - Shakila Shayan
- Education & Pedagogy, Utrecht University, 3512 JE Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Connie de Vos
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, 6525 HP Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Gunter Senft
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - N J Enfield
- Department of Linguistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Rogayah A Razak
- Centre for Rehabilitation and Specials Needs, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Sebastian Fedden
- Institute of General and Applied Linguistics and Phonetics, Université Paris 3 (Sorbonne-Nouvelle), 75005 Paris, France
| | - Sylvia Tufvesson
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Mark Dingemanse
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ozge Ozturk
- Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
| | - Penelope Brown
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Clair Hill
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
- Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
| | - Olivier Le Guen
- Linguistics Department, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 14000 Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Vincent Hirtzel
- Laboratory of Ethnology and Comparative Sociology, CNRS/Paris Nanterre University, 92000 Nanterre, France
| | - Rik van Gijn
- Center for Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Mark A Sicoli
- Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904
| | - Stephen C Levinson
- Language & Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, 6525 HP Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Vision dominates in perceptual language: English sensory vocabulary is optimized for usage. Cognition 2018; 179:213-220. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Revised: 05/02/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
|
46
|
Abstract
This paper argues that investigators should consider replacing the popular practice of comparing individuals varying in gender, social class, and/or ethnicity on one or more continuous measures with a search for kinds of individuals defined by patterns of properties that include not only their values on outcome measures but also their gender, social class, and ethnicity. Investigators who believe that a particular predictor contributes to an outcome independent of the gender, class, or ethnicity of the participants often implement statistical procedures that promise to remove the contributions of the above categories. These analyses lead to misleading conclusions when the controlled category is correlated with the dependent measures. The final sections summarize the properties of genders, classes, and ethnic groups that make distinctive contributions to many psychological outcomes. The paper ends by noting that a society's ethical beliefs constitute a defensible basis for ignoring the biological properties associated with these categories in order to allow members of these groups access to whatever educational or occupational goals they desire.
Collapse
|
47
|
Anderson P, Gual A, Rehm J. Reducing the health risks derived from exposure to addictive substances. Curr Opin Psychiatry 2018; 31:333-341. [PMID: 29746421 DOI: 10.1097/yco.0000000000000432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW To discuss the health risks due to exposure to alcohol, illegal drugs and nicotine and how these risks might be reduced. RECENT FINDINGS In 2016, worldwide, alcohol, illegal drugs and nicotine were responsible for some 10 million deaths. There is evolutionary and biological evidence that humans are predisposed to consuming alcohol, illegal drugs and nicotine - present-day problems are caused by high levels of potency, exposure and drug delivery systems. The two priority substances for action are alcohol and smoked cigarettes; their exposure can be reduced by price increases, setting minimum prices per product, regulating a shift form smoked cigarettes to electronic nicotine delivery devices and, theoretically, reducing the ethanol content of existing beverages. Legalization of cannabis requires a strict regulatory framework. SUMMARY Purposeful policy can reduce the harm done by alcohol, illegal drugs and nicotine. In particular, policy to reduce exposure to alcohol requires considerable strengthening.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter Anderson
- Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.,Care and Public Health Research Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Antoni Gual
- Addictions Unit, Psychiatry Department, Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Clinic.,Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques.,August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Catalonia.,Red de Trastornos Adictivos (RTA - RETICS), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jürgen Rehm
- Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.,Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.,Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
|