Human Olfaction

Olfaction, or sense of smell, is one of the many sensory/perceptual systems that humans use to process external stimuli. Human olfaction is relatively understudied. More literature has focused on olfaction in animals for which olfaction plays a larger role in critical functioning and survival. This bibliography provides key resources for information about human olfaction and then outlines twelve general topics that are of considerable value to understanding this primary sensory system. It begins by providing some general resources that outline the functions of olfaction in humans. Next, it explores the anatomy and physiology of the human olfactory system, recognizing that our understanding has been largely guided by studying animals. It addresses several important theories of human olfaction, including ones that have attempted to understand the initial receptor-level processing of stimuli and ones that have been developed to explain the whole system. After considering some historical issues in studying olfaction, it outlines the various ways that human olfaction is studied. It considers some issues in olfaction that are related to cognitive processes, such as language and memory. A critical topic in the chemical senses of smell and taste that is somewhat less relevant in other sensory systems is that of hedonics (pleasure or liking). This bibliography explores sex differences, which, though small, seem to be more prevalent than in other sensory systems. In addition, this bibliography explores the effect of age on olfaction, both in terms of the development of olfaction in children and the decline of olfaction in aging. The entry ends with clinical implications, primarily of smell loss. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought newfound appreciation for the importance of sense of smell in human experience, a summary of the effect of Covid-19 on human sense of smell is included. In this bibliography pioneering studies are emphasized, although reviews are included in cases where the literature is too extensive to be summed up by single studies.

Anatomy of the Nervous System in Chelifer cancroides (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) with a Distinct Sensory Pathway Associated with the Pedipalps

Many arachnid taxa have evolved unique, highly specialized sensory structures such as antenniform legs in Amblypygi (whip spiders), for instance, or mesosomal pectines in scorpions. Knowledge of the neuroanatomy as well as functional aspects of these sensory organs is rather scarce, especially in comparison to other arthropod clades. In pseudoscorpions, no special sensory structures have been discovered so far. Nevertheless, these animals possess dominant, multifunctional pedipalps, which are good candidates for being the primary sensory appendages. However, only little is known about the anatomy of the nervous system and the projection pattern of pedipalpal afferents in this taxon. By using immunofluorescent labeling of neuronal structures as well as lipophilic dye labeling of pedipalpal pathways, we identified the arcuate body, as well as a comparatively small mushroom body, the latter showing some similarities to that of Solifugae (sun spiders and camel spiders). Furthermore, afferents from the pedipalps terminate in a glomerular and a layered neuropil. Due to the innervation pattern and structural appearance, we conclude that these neuropils are the first integration centers of the chemosensory and mechanosensory afferents. Within Arthropoda, but also other invertebrates or even vertebrates, sensory structures show rather similar neuronal arrangement. Thus, these similarities in the sensory systems of different evolutionary origin have to be interpreted as functional prerequisites of the respective modality.

Perimeter Protection of the Areas of Interest

This article analyses the history and current state in the area of outdoor protection. In the first part of the article, the sensory systems, which have been used for many years are described. Attention is paid to the sensors using conventional principles of the detection of the objects. New modern sensory systems together with their principles used for the protection of the outdoor environment are also described. Other problem is that older sensory systems of spatial protection were focused on the security of properties and buildings without expecting any change position in the time. The article analyzes also new possibilities of protecting of the outdoor perimeter even in the situations when the borders of the areas of interest are only temporary or mobile. And as UAV systems have been used massively and often involve modern multisensory systems, the last part of the article describes current sensors, which have been currently used to detect the UAV systems and to to protect the area of interest.

Neurobiology of phenotypic plasticity in the light of climate change

Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of an organism with a given genotype to respond to changing environmental conditions through the adaptation of the phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is a widespread means of adaptation, allowing organisms to optimize fitness levels in changing environments. A core prerequisite for adaptive predictive plasticity is the existence of reliable cues, i.e. accurate environmental information about future selection on the expressed plastic phenotype. Furthermore, organisms need the capacity to detect and interpret such cues, relying on specific sensory signalling and neuronal cascades. Subsequent neurohormonal changes lead to the transformation of phenotype A into phenotype B. Each of these activities is critical for survival. Consequently, anything that could impair an animal’s ability to perceive important chemical information could have significant ecological ramifications. Climate change and other human stressors can act on individual or all of the components of this signalling cascade. In consequence, organisms could lose their adaptive potential, or in the worst case, even become maladapted. Therefore, it is key to understand the sensory systems, the neurobiology and the physiological adaptations that mediate organisms’ interactions with their environment. It is, thus, pivotal to predict the ecosystem-wide effects of global human forcing. This review summarizes current insights on how climate change affects phenotypic plasticity, focussing on how associated stressors change the signalling agents, the sensory systems, receptor responses and neuronal signalling cascades, thereby, impairing phenotypic adaptations.

Constitutivity in Flavour Perception

Within contemporary philosophy of perception, it is commonly claimed that flavour experiences are paradigmatic examples of multimodal perceptual experiences. In fact, virtually any sensory system, including vision and audition, is believed to influence how we experience flavours. However, there is a strong intuition, often expressed in these works, that not all of these sensory systems make an equal contribution to the phenomenology of flavour experiences. More specifically, it seems that the activities of some sensory systems are constitutive for flavour perception while others merely influence how we experience flavours. This paper aims to answer the question regarding the constitutive factors of flavour perception in a twofold way. First, a theoretical framework is developed, relying on debates regarding constitutivity in analytic metaphysics and philosophy of science, which defines the stronger and weaker senses in which the activities of sensory systems may be constitutive for flavour perception. Second, relying on empirical results in flavour science, the constitutive status of activities related to distinct sensory systems in the context of flavour perception is investigated.

Maskinkroppens gräns

Boundaries of the Machine Body: Violence, Immunity and Media Assemblages in The Last of Us This article examines the portrayal of bodily boundaries in the videogame series The Last of Us. Drawing on theories of media ecology and posthumanism (most notably Deer’s notion of radical animism, Haraway’s theories of the cyborg, and Fuller’s account of media assemblages), three aspects of this portrayal are described: first, the game’s narrativization of bodily violence through an amalgamation of the player’s sensory systems with media technologies; second, the game’s depiction of monstrous corporeality; and third, its representation of immune systems through the mirrored relationship between external tools and endogenous bodily functions. Connecting these three aspects, it is argued that The Last of Us portrays bodily boundaries as precarious, and that it presents violence, technology and infectious disease as callingcards for moving beyond anthropocentric views of corporeality; of conceptualizing the human body as machine-like and inevitably more-than-human.

Sensory systems processing in children with spastic cerebral palsy: a pilot study

Background The study of the sensory aspect alongside the motor aspect in children with spastic cerebral palsy is critical. Knowledge may help improve intervention, children’s quality of life, activity, and participation. The study aims to analyze the sensory systems processing in children with spastic cerebral palsy classified by Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) as levels I, II, and III using Child Sensory Profile 2 (CSP-2). Caregivers of children with spastic cerebral palsy aged 6–9 years (n = 20) completed the CSP-2. Children with severe comorbidities besides cerebral palsy (i.e., diabetes, myopathy, neuropathy, and uncontrolled epilepsy), autism, burn injuries, hearing or vision loss were excluded. Results All twenty participating children showed sensory processing difficulties in at least one of the sensory sections. With 14 out of 20 showing abnormalities in more than one section, the majority showed problems in the body position section, followed by the movement section. There was a significant difference between raw scores means of children with unilateral and bilateral SCP at the “body position” section, unlike the rest of the other sections. Conclusions Children with spastic cerebral palsy (GMFCS levels I, II, and III) show sensory systems processing difficulties compared to normative data, especially at vestibular and proprioceptive processing.

Sensory Organ Investment Varies with Body Size and Sex in the Butterfly Pieris napi

In solitary insect pollinators such as butterflies, sensory systems must be adapted for multiple tasks, including nectar foraging, mate-finding, and locating host-plants. As a result, the energetic investments between sensory organs can vary at the intraspecific level and even among sexes. To date, little is known about how these investments are distributed between sensory systems and how it varies among individuals of different sex. We performed a comprehensive allometric study on males and females of the butterfly Pieris napi where we measured the sizes and other parameters of sensory traits including eyes, antennae, proboscis, and wings. Our findings show that among all the sensory traits measured, only antenna and wing size have an allometric relationship with body size and that the energetic investment in different sensory systems varies between males and females. Moreover, males had absolutely larger antennae and eyes, indicating that they invest more energy in these organs than females of the same body size. Overall, the findings of this study reveal that the size of sensory traits in P. napi are not necessarily related to body size and raises questions about other factors that drive sensory trait investment in this species and in other insect pollinators in general.