Olfactory Dimensions Research Articles

Diabelskie koło historii. Poetyki miejskie w powieści Aleksieja Iwanowa Cienie Teutonów

Shadows of the Teutons, a novel by the contemporary Russian writer Aleksei Ivanov, was published in 2021. The story unfolds across two different time periods. Some events take place in 1457 during the siege of Marienburg, the capital of the Teutonic Order’s State, and the Polish-Teutonic conflict serves as a starting point for the depiction of later battles, in 1945, within the former East Prussia, now known as the Kaliningrad Oblast. This article examines the means used to create the urban spaces depicted in the novel and their transformation as a result of armed conflicts. It focuses on the urban landscapes of Baltiysk (Pillau) and Malbork (Marienburg), which exhibit a complex identity and strong interconnections at various levels of the narrative structure. The analysis explores somatopoetics and thanatopoetics, two categories the author employs to describe places, as well as the auditory and olfactory dimensions of everyday wartime experiences, memoryscapes, Teutonic castles and underground settings such as cellars, bunkers, catacombs, secret passages and tunnels.

Smellscape Characteristics of an Urban Park in Summer: A Case Study in Beijing, China

The construction of urban green spaces is a pivotal aspect of sustainable urban development. As societal preferences evolve, a shift from visually oriented landscapes to multi-sensory landscapes has emerged. However, scant attention has been given to the olfactory dimension of urban green spaces. This study addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between odor perception and park visit experiences, employing a combination of smellwalks and questionnaire surveys conducted in Purple Bamboo Park in Beijing. Natural odors, with most perception frequencies above 60%, are the most dominant odors in Purple Bamboo Park during the summer, including plant, water, and soil smells. The questionnaire survey results revealed a positive correlation between the perception of natural odors and tour experience. Notably, floral fragrances emerged as the predominant olfactory stimulus influencing the park’s olfactory ambiance. Furthermore, a remarkably strong association was observed between the degrees of olfactory, visual, and overall experiential satisfaction, which indicates that multi-sensory experiences in urban parks work as an organic whole. By recognizing the pivotal role of smell in shaping perceptions, urban planners and designers can now integrate olfactory considerations into their work, thereby elevating the overall quality and sustainability of urban green spaces.

The Sound of Smell: Associating Odor Valence With Disgust Sounds.

Olfaction has recently been highlighted as a sense poorly connected with language. Odor is difficult to verbalize, and it has few qualities that afford mimicry by vision or sound. At the same time, emotion is thought to be the most salient dimension of an odor, and it could therefore be an olfactory dimension more easily communicated. We investigated whether sounds imitative of an innate disgust response can be associated with unpleasant odors. In two experiments, participants were asked to make a forced choice between a pseudoword including a disgust sound and a neutral pseudoword, for pleasant and unpleasant odors. Overall, participants chose more disgust pseudowords than neutral pseudowords for unpleasant odors, but this was not the case for pleasant odors. This effect was not driven by a general association between unpleasant sounds and unpleasant odors, but specifically the sounds [x/χ] and [f], thought to reflect physical responses to disgusting odors, as seen in the Polish fu! or the English ugh!. In line with growing evidence that language can encode odor, we provide the first experimental evidence for an association between the sound of a word and odor valence.

Chemosensory perception is specifically impaired in Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) exhibit a considerably diminished sense of smell. The olfactory system is intimately connected to the trigeminal system, responsible for the perception of sensations such as freshness, warmth or piquancy in odorants. Usually, olfactory impairment is associated with a similar reduction of trigeminal sensitivity. A recent study suggests that the trigeminal system is not affected in patients with PD. To test this, we evaluated perception of mixed olfactory/trigeminal stimuli in 23 patients with idiopathic PD and compared them to 22 healthy matched controls. More specifically, we evaluated the trigeminal dimensions of coolness, warmth and piquancy and the olfactory dimensions of pleasantness, familiarity and edibility of 10 mixed olfactory/trigeminal odorants using Likert scale. We show that PD patients perceive trigeminal sensations of coolness, warmth, and piquancy of odorants equally well as controls, as opposed to olfactory dimensions that are perceived significantly less compared to controls (p < 0.001). Moreover, Chi-square Tests show that equal number of participants in both groups perceive the trigeminal dimensions of odorants. Thus, we provide further evidence that the trigeminal system, as opposed to the olfactory system, is not impaired in PD patients reflecting a specific pattern of chemosensory impairment in PD.

Smell, Terrorism and Performance

The increase in terrorist attacks over the past two decades has generated a proliferation of images distributed across a wide range of media. Tragic scenes of bombings, shootings and their aftermath are screened over and over to the point of hypnotizing viewers by the excessive repetition. Yet not all forms of terrorism lend themselves to visual spectacle. Smell-related attacks—what I call odoterrorism—utilize noxious compounds to inflict harm and inculcate fear. What differentiates odoterrorism from other terrorist tactics is that visual evidence can be slight and so offers little to news media eager for dramatic footage. Odoterrorism, however, not only typifies the actions of malevolent agents to weaponize air, it can also serve as the means for a growing genre of performance using smell. War remains a preoccupation of contemporary artists, and odours are a potent means to introduce disgust, abjectness, decay and sometimes danger. Through a discussion of four olfactory works—by Critical Art Ensemble, Santiago Sierra, Survival Research Laboratories, and Clara Ursitti—this article explores how artists mobilize olfactory-based actions to destabilize normal viewing practices and to convey the vulnerability of the body. Nauseating smells effectively introduce viscerality to shock visitors into a state of intense sensory presentness, and to short-circuit rationalizations about war that gloss over its manifold horrors. Through strategies of simulation, participation, intervention, and post-performativity, these artists formulate pungent critiques of war and violence through its olfactory dimension.

Design and validation of a low cost indoor environment quality data logger

The appraisal of indoor environment quality in residential dwellings presents a range of technical challenges. Indoor environment quality (IEQ) is often described as having thermal, visual, aural and olfactory dimensions, each of which is assessed subjectively by the resident. While it is possible to objectively assess physical parameters relating to these aspects of IEQ, either directly or indirectly, resident satisfaction with the environment is determined subjectively so must be inferred. In the field study of thermal comfort (FSTC) approach, objective physical measurements are collected simultaneously with resident preference and sensation information, usually via a diary or written survey. This research paper explores a new approach to residential IEQ appraisal which extends the FSTC approach to the visual, aural and olfactory dimensions using a low-cost data collection system based upon the Arduino microcontroller platform. The paper describes the design developed, presents early validation results and draws preliminary conclusions.

Lectures du ‘Misanthrope’. Par Jean Rohou et Brigitte Prost.

In an unevenly divided bipartite project, the two authors bring those preparing for the agrégation up to date on this seminal Molière text. Although the title might lead the reader to expect a spectrum of published interpretations, these are simply mediated by the well-judged overview of Jean Rohou, whose own voice is clearly audible and persuasive despite the pedagogical format. He begins with a broadly focused socio-historical survey, situating the play in the context of the aristocratic manners that it both reflects and satirizes. The early contextual chapters draw heavily on evidence from both moralistes and novelists, in order to foreground the interdependent features of honnêteté and galanterie present in the text, and to describe the often deceitful methods adopted in order to keep up appearances in the world of the salons. The central part of Rohou’s analysis then turns to the modes of comic dramatization of these phenomena. Here, he suggests, the play is in a sense composed retrospectively from the dénouement, and stresses the need to consider acted routines alongside textual analysis in any evaluation of its impact. This balance is then exemplified in a detailed survey of the first act, with respect in particular to the stage interactions of well and badly matched couples. There are one or two contestable value judgements at this point, notably in the endorsement of figures such as Philinte (and his counterparts in other plays), to the effect that they ‘suscitent notre entière adhésion’ (p. 60), thereby failing to notice that there is such a thing as extreme moderation; or, from such apparently genre-unaware interpreters as Jacques Copeau, who is quoted, in the tradition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as seeing in Alceste a character who is ‘d’essence tragique’ (p. 60). That is precisely what Alceste thinks he is, and therein lies most of his comic potential. The last part of Rohou’s contribution deals successively with the major protagonists, placing some welcome stress on Célimène’s social position as a young widow, and seeing in Arsinoé an extension of Molière’s enduring campaign against the conjoint phenomena of prudery and false piety. He finally turns to Alceste, and gives an overview of some more recent criticism, before concluding persuasively on the verdict that ‘Alceste a raison dans sa pensée et tort dans son attitude, dans ses expressions; mais celles-ci sont théâtralement excellentes’ (p. 117). In the briefer second part, Brigitte Prost gives an insight into the different ways in which mises en scène have conveyed the ambiguity inherent in the text. After a summary of early modern productions, she devotes the majority of her remarks to twentieth-century readings, all of which tend to reflect the theatrical aesthetic favoured in the decade under review. These range from the psycho-analytical (Jean-Pierre Dougnac in 1976), through the ‘farce sinistre’ (p. 137) of Antoine Vitez in 1978 and the historical re-enactment of Jean-Pierre Vincent in 1985, complete with horses on stage (with the inevitable olfactory dimension thereby implied), to the meta-theatricality of Christian Rist in 1990. There is a useful, if unduly Hexagonal, bibliography.

Sensory reverberations: rethinking the temporal and experiential boundaries of war ethnography

ABSTRACTThis article explores the value of attention to sensory experiences in the study of conflict and war, and in particular those of the ethnographer herself when she has previously lived through war and violence. It is at once an invitation for greater sensitivity to auditory and olfactory dimensions in researching violence and a critical questioning of the perception of a limited temporality in the fieldwork experience. Living through war involves repeated encounters with violence and a prolonged ‘living-in’ its shadow. Every encounter with violence bridges different temporalities. The present moment, memories of past violence and concerns about their recurrence in the future – all create a sense of we-ness among subjects. The lived experience of war is cumulative; it etches its marks on its subjects’ souls and bodies, its impact varying as its subjects go through different life stages. It is also intergenerational as the individual experience of violence is often closely tied to the experiences of past generations and expectations for future generations.

Olfactory Impairment in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Using Threshold, Discrimination, and Identification Scores.

Differences in testing modalities and cut-points used to define olfactory dysfunction contribute to the wide variability in estimating the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The aim of this study is to report the prevalence of olfactory impairment using each component of the Sniffin' Sticks test (threshold, discrimination, identification, and total score) with age-adjusted and ideal cut-points from normative populations. Patients meeting diagnostic criteria for CRS were enrolled from rhinology clinics at a tertiary academic center. Olfaction was assessed using the Sniffin' Sticks test. The study population consisted of 110 patients. The prevalence of normosmia, hyposmia, and anosmia using total Sniffin' Sticks score was 41.8%, 20.0%, and 38.2% using age-appropriate cut-points and 20.9%, 40.9%, and 38.2% using ideal cut-points. Olfactory impairment estimates for each dimension mirrored these findings, with threshold yielding the highest values. Threshold, discrimination, and identification were also found to be significantly correlated to each other ( P < 0.001). In addition, computed tomography scores, asthma, allergy, and diabetes were found to be associated with olfactory dysfunction. In conclusion, the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction is dependent upon olfactory dimension and if age-adjusted cut-points are used. The method of olfactory testing should be chosen based upon specific clinical and research goals.

Surreal aroma's. (Re)constructing the volatile heritage of Marcel Duchamp

No ‘visual’ artist addressed the sense of smell as often as Marcel Duchamp did. Whereas his solid objects can still be studied visually and textually, the scents he used have by now evaporated, and a vocabulary to describe them is lacking until today. What we have left are nose witness reports and the possibility to smell olfactory reconstructions. Rereading canonical text with a more sensory gaze and inhaling these historical fragrances, such as cedar, erotic perfumes and coffee, will enable us to reconstruct the olfactory dimension of our highly ocularcentric history of art.

Multidimensional representation of odors in the human olfactory cortex.

What is known as an odor object is an integrated representation constructed from physical features, and perceptual attributes mainly mediated by the olfactory and trigeminal systems. The aim of the present study was to comprehend how this multidimensional representation is organized, by deciphering how similarities in the physical, olfactory and trigeminal perceptual spaces of odors are represented in the human brain. To achieve this aim, we combined psychophysics, functional MRI and multivariate representational similarity analysis. Participants were asked to smell odors diffused by an fMRI-compatible olfactometer and to rate each smell along olfactory dimensions (pleasantness, intensity, familiarity and edibility) and trigeminal dimensions (irritation, coolness, warmth and pain). An event-related design was implemented, presenting different odorants. Results revealed that (i) pairwise odorant similarities in anterior piriform cortex (PC) activity correlated with pairwise odorant similarities in chemical properties (P < 0.005), (ii) similarities in posterior PC activity correlated with similarities in olfactory perceptual properties (P <0.01), and (iii) similarities in amygdala activity correlated with similarities in trigeminal perceptual properties (P < 0.01). These findings provide new evidence that extraction of physical, olfactory and trigeminal features is based on specific fine processing of similarities between odorous stimuli in a distributed manner in the olfactory system. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2161-2172, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Beyond Braille on Toilet Doors: Museum Curators and Audiences with Vision Impairment

Beyond Braille on Toilet Doors: Museum Curators and Audiences with Vision Impairment

A World Without the Olfactory Dimension

This article aims to describe what is it like to perceive reality when suffering from congenital anosmia. Nevertheless, this objective entails a fundamental difficulty. Since I have never had the experience of olfaction, it seems natural to me to live in a world lacking the olfactory dimension; this subjective perception is the only one I know and in consequence it is difficult to describe. For this reason, in recent years I have begun to develop long conversations with other people suffering from congenital anosmia, people who have lost their sense of olfaction in adulthood and also people with a good sense of smell. My goal is to draw a map showing the principal differences that might allow us to develop a systematic comparison. Obviously, this is not an experimental or quantitative scientific procedure, but only a modest attempt to compare personal stories about subjective experiences. It is a philosophical-literary exercise, and does not aim to be anything other than that. But I hope it will help to formulate meaningful questions, which would then need a properly scientific approach. In the first part of this article I want to try to describe how I became aware that other people could smell; and in a second part, I will try to examine the consequences of anosmia in different areas of everyday life: nourishment, relationships with people, own body perception, natural or urban environments perception, time perception, and finally aesthetic appreciation and the implications of living in a world without stench.

Olfactory evolution and behavioral ecology in primates

Primates are usually thought of as "visual" mammals, and several comparative studies have emphasized the role of vision in primate neural and sociocognitive specialization. Here I explore the role of olfactory systems, using phylogenetic analysis of comparative volumetric data. The relative sizes of the main olfactory bulb (MOB) and accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) tend to show different evolutionary patterns in accordance with their different functions. Although there is some evidence of correlated evolution of the two systems, this is apparent in only one clade (the strepsirhines). As predicted, the MOBs correlate predominantly with ecological factors (activity period and diet), while the AOBs correlate with social and mating systems. Related olfactory structures (i.e., the piriform cortex and amygdala) exhibit correlated evolution with the AOBs but not with the MOBs, and the corticobasolateral part of the amygdala exhibits a correlation with social group size in platyrrhines similar to that observed for the AOB. These social system correlations support the idea that there is an olfactory dimension to the concept of the social brain.

Self-monitoring and identification of olfactory dimensions.

The basic categories of odors are not agreed on. Many classifications of odors have been proposed, but none has met widespread acceptance. The variability among qualitative judgments of odors which makes it difficult to construct reliable classifications may depend on cultural or personal idiosyncrasies. To check personality factors in odor evaluation, we asked 40 subjects, who had previously completed a personality questionnaire, to make qualitative judgments about 10 odors on 10 semantic differential scales. From comparison of two different self-monitoring groups, on the semantic differential, reliable differences did not emerge. While high self-monitoring subjects tended to maintain intermediate positions, for some odors, low self-monitors hazarded more polarized evaluations.

Identification of olfactory dimensions by semantic differential technique

Twenty Ss rated 14 odorants on 24 semantic differential scales. Scale scores for each odorant were obtained as the median rating across Ss. Factor analysis yielded four interpretable dimensions of olfactory perception.