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Retronasal Olfaction
Published in Alan R. Hirsch, Nutrition and Sensation, 2023
Jason J. Gruss, Alan R. Hirsch
A substance must be volatile enough to allow transportation of a stimulus to the olfactory sensory organs. Many things can alter a substance’s volatility. An example of this would be bread. Hot, baking bread, coming right out of the oven has a very strong and familiar odor. Two days later, the same bread is much less volatile and presents a much lower stimulus. Using this concept, modern chefs are preparing foods that have specific sensory effects. A chef might prepare a food with minimal aroma until it meets with saliva, or until it is chewed. An example of this would be crystallized or dehydrated concentration of specific flavors, such as powders that turn into fruit punch or lemonade with water. Another chef might add a complimentary aroma to a course that is not eaten but only smelled. An example of this would be a bouquet of pine needles. When hot water is added to the needles, the aroma is unmistakable, but the needles need not be eaten for the aroma to add to the flavor. In these ways, orthonasal aroma can be added to alter the flavor of food. Alternatively, retronasal flavors can be added. When a retronasal stimulus is added, there is a sudden change from minimal odor detection to strong odor detection. This contrast results in strong sensory perception, perhaps similar to stepping out of a darkened theater into sunlight.
Synesthesia
Published in Alexander R. Toftness, Incredible Consequences of Brain Injury, 2023
However, because this book is about changes that can happen to people's brains, we are mostly interested in the other major type of synesthesia, which is the acquired kind. Acquired synesthesia sometimes develops after an event that damages sensory organs or nerves. This most commonly takes the form of damage to the visual pathways leading from the eyes to the brain, such as the retina and optic nerve (Ward, 2007). Other known but less common causes of acquired synesthesia include stroke (Ro et al., 2007), brain tumor (Vike et al., 1984), and epilepsy (Jacome & Gumnit, 1979). Certain drugs can also cause you to temporarily experience synesthesia, but this tends to be tightly coupled with illusions and pseudohallucinations, and the associations can be highly variable rather than automatic (Sinke et al., 2012). So, even if the sound of your own voice tasted like citrus the first time that you took a drug trip, it is unlikely to taste that way on your second trip.
Ayurveda and COVID-19
Published in Srijan Goswami, Chiranjeeb Dey, COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, 2022
The CNS consists of the brain, the cranial nerves, the spinal cord, and a network of nerves that connects every organ of the body to the brain. There are two main branches of the CNS—sensory and motor. Sensory nerves carry sensations to the brain and motor nerves carry instructions from the brain to the organs and muscles. The network of sensory nerves collects sensations from all the sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin) from all over the body and carries them to the brain. The brain compiles all the sensations and creates a complete picture. The picture is compared with the memory of past events and a line of action is decided upon. The brain then sends instructions to the organs of action through the network of motor nerves. All this activity happens at lightning speed. This is how all voluntary action takes place.
Inter-organ regulation by the brain in Drosophila development and physiology
Published in Journal of Neurogenetics, 2023
Sunggyu Yoon, Mingyu Shin, Jiwon Shim
The central brain area for processing feeding behaviors is the subesophageal zone (SEZ), which functions similarly to the brainstem in mammals (Ghysen, 2003; Kendroud et al., 2018). Pharyngeal nerves innervate the SEZ, and motor neurons relay information from the SEZ to pharyngeal nerves to drive the movement of mouthparts, called the proboscis, to control ingestion (Miyazaki & Ito, 2010). Specifically, motor neurons in the SEZ are separated and grouped depending on the response to sweet or bitter tastes: 36 motor neurons are activated by sweet chemicals, while bitter tastes trigger 32 motor neurons (Harris et al., 2015). In addition to neurons executing feeding behaviors, interneurons in the SEZ connect sensory inputs with motor outputs and fine-tune their connectome (Sterne et al., 2021). In summary, taste chemicals in food activate gustatory neurons in sensory organs, which consequently modulate feeding behaviors through muscle movements mediated by motor neurons from the SEZ.
Representations of the olfactory bulb and tracts in images of the medieval cell doctrine
Published in Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 2022
For some of the special senses (vision, audition, and gustation), the illustrated linkage between the sensory organ and the sensus communis is straightforward, even if erroneous and simplistic. With vision, for example, an afferent pathway (usually represented as a straight line) typically connects the eye (and, in particular, usually the pupil, where light enters the eye) to the sensus communis. There was, of course, then no conception that the retina is responsible for phototransduction. Similar lines connect the nose (olfaction), ears (audition), and the tongue (gustation) with the sensus communis. Uncommonly, some of the special senses were illustrated as having connections with the middle or posterior ventricle of the brain: For example, German anatomist Johann Dryander showed connections between the pupils and two of the ventricles (the anterior and middle ventricles), and between the tongue and the posterior or third ventricle (Dryandrum 1537).
Experiences of sensory input in daily occupations for people with serious mental illness
Published in Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2021
Helene Andersson, Daniel Sutton, Ulrika Bejerholm, Elisabeth Argentzell
Rates of serious mental illness are increasing worldwide, including in Sweden [1]. Research shows that people experiencing mental illness encounter changes in thought processes, emotions, interpersonal behaviours, activity levels and bodily sensations [2–3]. However, the significance of changes in bodily sensations and the processing of sensory inputs has not been widely recognised. Sensory input is the stimuli received through the sensory organs, including visual, olfactory, gustatory, auditory and tactile modalities. It also includes proprioception (sense of movement and force in muscles and joints) and vestibular input (sense of balance and acceleration) [4]. There is considerable neuroscientific evidence that people with diagnoses such as Schizophrenia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety Disorders may have associated sensory processing issues [5–6]. This includes difficulties in ‘gating’ or filtering out less important stimuli as well as hypersensitivity to specific input [7]. Furthermore, when acutely distressed, individuals with or without serious mental health issues may become over-sensitive to input such as noise or bright light, or under responsive to other input, such as visual cues [8]. Difficulties with sensory processing are presumed to significantly affect engagement in daily occupations, such as attending to work tasks and socialising with others [5,9]. However, there is currently limited published evidence exploring how atypical sensory processing is experienced in adults with mental illness and how it affects occupational participation [6].