Sensory perception

Oral processing of food is a dynamic process involving a range of deformation processes. The mechanical properties and the rheology of food have been widely used to understand and predict in mouth flow properties and to discover relationships with sensory perception. However, only limited success has been realised using such approaches to characterise and to interpret food texture. Tribology is emerging as a contributing discipline for understanding oral processing of food as well as texture and mouthfeel, since it encompasses both the fluid's (lubricant's) rheological properties as well as the surface properties of the interacting substrates in relative motion.

We draw upon literature examining cross-modal sensory interactions and congruence to explore the impact of smell on touch. In line with our predictions, two experiments show that smell can impact touch in meaningful ways. Specifically, we show that multisensory semantic congruence between smell and touch properties of a stimulus enhances haptic perception and product evaluation. We explore this relationship in the context of two properties of touch, namely texture and temperature, and demonstrate that both smell and touch can have semantic associations, which can affect haptic perception and product evaluation depending on whether they match or not. In study 1, we focus on the semantic association of smell and touch (texture) with gender and in study 2 with temperature. Our results extend prior work on smell and touch within consumer behavior, and further contribute to emerging literature on multisensory interactions. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Society for Consumer Psychology.

The adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) and user satisfaction are closely associated with the systemÕs usability. To improve the usability of a results management module of a widely deployed web-based EMR, we conducted two qualitative studies that included multiple focus group and field study sessions. Qualitative research can help focus attention on user tasks and goals and identify patterns of care that can be visualized through task modeling exercises. Findings from both studies raised issues with the amount and organization of information in the display, interference with workflow patterns of primary care physicians, and the availability of visual cues and feedback. We used the findings of these studies to recommend design changes to the user interface of the results management module.

Discrimination between foods is crucial for the nutrition and survival of animals. Remarkable progress has been made through molecular and genetic manipulations in the understanding of the coding of taste at the receptor level. However, much less is known about the cortical processing of taste sensation and the organizing principles of the gustatory cortex (GC). Using genetic tracing, it has recently been shown that sweet and bitter taste are processed through segregated neuronal circuitries along the gustatory pathway up to the cortical level. This is in disagreement with the evidence that GC neurons recorded in both anesthetized and behaving animals responded to multiple taste modalities (including sweet and bitter). To investigate the functional architecture of the GC in regard to taste modalities, we used in vivo intrinsic optical imaging, a technique that has been successfully applied to explore the organization of other neocortical regions. We found that four of the primary taste modalities (sweet, bitter, salty, and sour) are represented by distinctive spatial patterns but that no region was specific to a single modality. In addition, we found that two tastants of similar hedonic value (pleasant or unpleasant) activated areas with more common regions than two tastants with opposite hedonic value. In summary, we propose that these specific cortical patterns can be used to discriminate among various tastants.

To study the sensations evoked by selective mechanical, chemical, and thermal stimulation of the conjunctiva and compare them with those elicited by similar stimulation of the cornea. Six young subjects participated in the study. Using a gas esthesiometer, selective mechanical (air puffs at flows from 0 to 264 ml/min), chemical (0--80% CO(2) in air), and thermal (air at temperatures from -10 degrees C to +80 degrees C) stimulation was performed on the center of the cornea and on the temporal conjunctiva. The intensity, degree of irritation, stinging and burning pain components, and thermal characteristics of the evoked sensation were evaluated after each stimulus in separate, 10-cm continuous visual analogue scales (VASs). The ability of the subjects to identify the quality of the stimulus applied to the cornea and the conjunctiva was also studied. The subjective intensity and thermal components (cooling or warming) of the sensation reported after mechanical, chemical, and heat stim...

Although many people expect their drinking water to be "flavorless", natural and processed drinking waters have flavors due to minerals and organics in the natural water, inputs from any step of water processing or transport, and interaction of these chemicals with an individuals' nose and mouth. Since people can detect the flavor of water, the idea has been proposed that drinking water consumers be considered as sentinels who monitor water quality. This paper explores specific sensory components of drinking water, how humans perceive their drinking water, and future directions for aesthetic research that can better explain causes of and treatments for tastes and odors in drinking water and the human factors that make water a desirable beverage.

This work describes a study on the in-mouth textural perception of thickened liquid oil-in-water emulsions. The variables studied are oil content, oil viscosity, and the concentration of polysaccharide thickener. Gum arabic was chosen as the thickener because of the nearly Newtonian behavior of its solutions and special care was taken to suppress aroma clues. Based on the experimental results and findings from previous studies, this work shows that the emulsion droplets influence textural sensory perception of liquid emulsions by three main mechanisms, each of which relate to changes in specific sensory attributes, and none of which were found to be significantly dependent on the viscosity of the oil: 1) by increasing the viscosity, 2) by becoming incorporated in the mucous oral coating, and 3) by spreading oil at the oral surfaces. Based on these results, the possibility for replacement of emulsified fat by a polysaccharide thickener is evaluated.

Studies in sleeping newborns and infants propose that the superior temporal sulcus is involved in speech processing soon after birth. Speech processing also implicitly requires the analysis of the human voice, which conveys both linguistic and extralinguistic information. However, due to technical and practical challenges when neuroimaging young children, evidence of neural correlates of speech and/or voice processing in toddlers and young children remains scarce. In the current study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 20 typically developing preschool children (average age 55.8 y; range 5.2-6.8 y) to investigate brain activation during judgments about vocal identity versus the initial speech sound of spoken object words. FMRI results reveal common brain regions responsible for voice-specific and speech-sound specific processing of spoken object words including bilateral primary and secondary language areas of the brain. Contrasting voice-specific with speech-sound specific processing predominantly activates the anterior part of the right-hemispheric superior temporal sulcus. Furthermore, the right STS is functionally correlated with left-hemispheric temporal and righthemispheric prefrontal regions. This finding underlines the importance of the right superior temporal sulcus as a temporal voice area and indicates that this brain region is specialized, and functions similarly to adults by the age of five. We thus extend previous knowledge of voice-specific regions and their functional connections to the young brain which may further our understanding of the neuronal mechanism of speech-specific processing in children with developmental disorders, such as autism or specific language impairments.

Reducing meat (over-)consumption as a way to help address environmental deterioration will require a range of strategies, and any such strategies will benefit from understanding how individuals might respond to various meat consumption practices. To investigate how New Zealanders perceive such a range of practices, in this instance in vitro meat, eating nose-to-tail, entomophagy and reducing meat consumption, focus groups involving a total of 69 participants were held around the country. While it is the damaging environmental implications of intensive farming practices and the projected continuation of increasing global consumer demand for meat products that has propelled this research, when asked to consider variations on the conventional meat-centric diet common to many New Zealanders, it was the sensory appeal of the areas considered that was deemed most problematic. While an ecological rationale for considering these 'meat' alternatives was recognised and considered important by most, transforming this value into action looks far less promising given the recurrent sensory objections to consuming different protein-based foods or of reducing meat consumption. This article considers the responses of focus group participants in relation to each of the dietary practices outlined, and offers suggestions on ways to encourage a more environmentally viable diet.

Human sensory orders are recalibrated when faced with the reduced illumination levels of the night; it is harder to judge depth and distance, details are obscured, colours muted, and one is obliged to compensate for this loss of visual acuity by drawing on the other senses. Darkness also forces one to question how one’s body is in relation to that which surrounds, challenging one’s human sense of bodily presence and boundary. Focusing on The Storr: Unfolding Landscape, a temporary night-time installation by the environmental arts charity NVA (Nacionale Vite Activa) on the Isle of Skye in 2005, this paper draws together contemporary art theory on installation art and recent post-phenomenological work in geography to explore the ways in which individuals experience the nocturnal landscape. In so doing, the paper highlights the close connections between these two bodies of work and how they might be usefully employed to advance traditional geographical understandings of landscape in art. At the same time, however, it raises both an empirical concern and a methodological question. First, regarding the uncritical way in which visibility is incorporated into many post-phenomenological accounts of landscape. Second, regarding the validity of focussing on isolated narratives in instances such as this when so much of what the individuals experienced was caused by, or shared with, others.

The organization of past urban space continues to be an important focus of archaeological research in sub-Saharan Africa where the methods of
space syntax now offer new interpretations of the built environment. Traditionally, space syntax uses access analysis graphs for buildings and axial maps for towns to represent and analyze the configuration of space as a network. Using perspectives from neuroscience and the social sciences, this paper presents several case studies to illustrate how space syntax can be adapted to provide a multisensory “synaesthetic” perspective
on African urban environments while also addressing their cultural contexts. These case studies, which focus on historic towns from East and West Africa, incorporate analyses of visibility and movement as tactile
perception to examine house layout, street networks, and the socio-spatial role of urban quarters. This demonstrates how the graphic representation of space syntax analyses can help us better understand spatial partitioning and material dimensions of urban space as cultural heritage that affects sensory perceptions such as vision and kinaesthetics.

The objective of the study was to understand how physical and structural properties of food translate into sensory perception. A range of gels with different structures were developed by combined mechanisms of ion-induced micro-phase separation of whey proteins, whey protein/l-carrageenan phase separation and network inversion. Descriptive sensory analysis was used to assess textural attributes of gels during the oral processing phases of first compression by tongue, first bite, mastication, and post swallow. Large deformation properties and fracture behavior of the gels were determined by uniaxial compression and single-edge notched bend tests. Mechanical properties at varying stages of deformation (before, during and after fracture) and sensory properties at different stages of oral processing (first compression, first bite and after 5e8 chews) followed similar trends based on the change in microstructure. Recoverable energies of gels were in agreement with springiness and compressibility evaluated at first compression in the mouth before biting. Young's modulus together with fracture properties, including critical energy release rate and fracture toughness, varied among different microstructures along with firmness. After the fracture point, the speed of macroscopic breakdown determined the fracture type of the gels, which was related to the degree of fracturability at the first bite. Overall, five out of six microstructures were discriminated in sensory texture properties. It was demonstrated that defined physical and sensorial properties of soft-solid foods can be generated by modifying the gel microstructure through colloidal interactions.

To study bilateral nerve changes in a newly developed novel mouse model for neurotrophic keratopathy by approaching the trigeminal nerve from the lateral fornix. Surgical axotomy of the ciliary nerve of the trigeminal nerve was performed in adult BALB/c mice at the posterior sclera. Axotomized, contralateral, and sham-treated corneas were excised on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 14 and immunofluorescence histochemistry was performed with anti-b-tubulin antibody to evaluate corneal nerve density. Blink reflex was evaluated using a nylon thread. The survival rate was 100% with minimal bleeding during axotomy and a surgical time of 860.5 minutes. The blink reflex was diminished at day 1 after axotomy, but remained intact in the contralateral eyes in all mice. The central and peripheral subbasal nerves were not detectable in the axotomized cornea at day 1 (p,0.001), compared to normal eyes (101.3614.8 and 69.7612.0 mm/mm 2 centrally and peripherally). Interestingly, the subbasal nerve density in the contralateral non-surgical eyes also decreased significantly to 62.462.8 mm/mm 2 in the center from day 1 (p,0.001), but did not change in the periphery (77.3611.7 mm/mm 2 , P = 0.819). Our novel trigeminal axotomy mouse model is highly effective, less invasive, rapid, and has a high survival rate, demonstrating immediate loss of subbasal nerves in axotomized eyes and decreased subbasal nerves in contralateral eyes after unilateral axotomy. This model will allow investigating the effects of corneal nerve damage and serves as a new model for neurotrophic keratopathy. Citation: Yamaguchi T, Turhan A, Harris DL, Hu K, Prü ss H, et al. (2013) Bilateral Nerve Alterations in a Unilateral Experimental Neurotrophic Keratopathy Model: A Lateral Conjunctival Approach for Trigeminal Axotomy. PLoS ONE 8(8): e70908.

Placebo treatments and healing rituals have been used to treat pain throughout history. The present within-subject crossover study examines the variability in individual responses to placebo treatment with verbal suggestion and visual cue conditioning by investigating whether responses to different types of placebo treatment, as well as conditioning responses, correlate with one another. Secondarily, this study also examines whether responses to sham acupuncture correlate with responses to genuine acupuncture. Healthy subjects were recruited to participate in two sequential experiments. Experiment one is a five-session crossover study. In each session, subjects received one of four treatments: placebo pills (described as Tylenol), sham acupuncture, genuine acupuncture, or no treatment rest control condition. Before and after each treatment, paired with a verbal suggestion of positive effect, each subject's pain threshold, pain tolerance, and pain ratings to calibrated heat pain were measured. At least 14 days after completing experiment one, all subjects were invited to participate in experiment two, during which their analgesic responses to conditioned visual cues were tested. Forty-eight healthy subjects completed experiment one, and 45 completed experiment two. The results showed significantly different effects of genuine acupuncture, placebo pill and rest control on pain threshold. There was no significant association between placebo pills, sham acupuncture and cue conditioning effects, indicating that individuals may respond to unique healing rituals in different ways. This outcome suggests that placebo response may be a complex behavioral phenomenon that has properties that comprise a state, rather than a trait characteristic. This could explain the difficulty of detecting a signature for ''placebo responders.'' However, a significant association was found between the genuine and sham acupuncture treatments, implying that the non-specific effects of acupuncture may contribute to the analgesic effect observed in genuine acupuncture analgesia.

Visual associations with auditory stimuli have been the subject of numerous studies. Colour, shape, size, and several other parameters have been linked to musical elements like timbre and pitch. In this article, we aim to examine the relationship between harmonisations with varying degrees of dissonance and visual roughness. Based on past research in which high sensory dissonance was associated with angular shapes, we argued that nontonal and highly dissonant harmonisations will be associated with angular and rough images, while more consonant stimuli will be associated with the images of low visual roughness. A fixed melody was harmonised in 7 different styles, including highly tonal, nontonal, and random variations. Through a listening task, musically trained participants rated the stimuli in terms of enjoyment, familiarity, and matched them to images of variable roughness. The overall consonance of the stimuli was calculated using two distinct models (Harrison & Pearce, 2020; Wang et al., 2013) and a variant of the aggregate dyadic consonance index (Huron, 1994). Our results demonstrate that dissonance, as calculated by all models, was highly correlated with visual roughness, and enjoyment and familiarity followed expected patterns compared to tonal and nontonal stimuli. In addition to sensory dissonance, however, it appears that other factors, such as the typicality of chord progressions and the sense of tonality may also influence this cross-modal interaction.

Oral processing is essential in breaking down the physicochemical structure of the food and thus important to the sensory perception of food in the mouth. To have an understanding of protein-based, soft-solid texture perception, a multidisciplinary approach was applied that combined studies of food microstructure with mechanical properties, sensory evaluation, and oral physiology. Model foods were developed by combining ion-induced micro-phase separation and protein-polysaccharide phase separation and inversion. Activities of masseter, anterior temporalis and anterior digastric muscles during oral processing were recorded by electromyography (EMG), while jaw movement amplitudes, durations, and velocities were simultaneously collected by a three-dimensional jaw tracking system (JT-3D). Changes in the microstructure of mixed gels significantly altered the characteristics of the chewing sequence, including the muscle activities, number of chews, chewing duration and chewing frequency. Mechanical attributes related to structural breakdown and sensory perception of firmness were highly correlated with the amount of muscle activity required to transform the initial structure into a bolus ready for swallowing. Chewing frequency was linked to mechanical properties such as recoverable energy, fracture strain and water holding capacity of the gels. Increased adhesiveness and moisture release also resulted in slower chewing frequency. Evaluation of oral processing parameters at various stages (i.e., first cycle, first 5 cycles, and last 3 cycles) was found to be a useful method to investigate the dynamic nature of sensory perception at first bite, during chewing and after swallowing. The study showed that muscle activity and jaw movement can be used to understand the links between physical properties of foods and sensory texture.

To determine corneal sensitivity to selective mechanical, chemical, and thermal (heat and cold) stimulation in patients with a history of herpes simplex virus (HSV) keratitis. METHODS. Corneal sensitivity to different modalities of stimulus was determined in both eyes of 16 patients with unilateral HSV keratitis diagnosed 1 to 12 months before the study. On slit lamp examination, 13 HSV-affected eyes showed corneal scarring or opacities, and three had no signs of previous keratitis. Corneal sensitivity was determined with the Belmonte gas esthesiometer. Mechanical, chemical, heat, and cold stimuli were applied on the central cornea. Eyes from 10 healthy subjects served as controls. RESULTS. In all control and contralateral eyes, selective mechanical, chemical, heat, and cold stimulation evoked sensations of subjective intensity proportional to the magnitude of the applied stimulus. In one HSV patient, the affected cornea was unresponsive to all types of stimuli, four lost only corneal sensitivity to mechanical stimulation, and three lost only sensitivity to heat. Mechanical (P Ͻ 0.005) and heat (P Ͻ 0.05) thresholds were raised in HSV eyes, whereas thresholds for CO 2 were not modified. Also, HSV subjects identified poorly the intensity of mechanical, chemical, and heat stimuli, whereas sensitivity to cold stimulation was unaffected. CONCLUSIONS. In eyes that had had HSV keratitis, corneal sensitivity to mechanical forces and heat was significantly impaired, suggesting that axonal damage and/or altered expression of membrane ion channels involved in transduction and membrane excitability affects primarily the mechano-and polymodal nociceptor terminals. Corneal cold-sensitive terminals remain largely unaffected. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010; 51:4516 -4522) Sixteen patients (nine women and seven men; age 40.4 Ϯ 3.7 years, range 16 -66) with a history of unilateral HSV keratitis during the year From the

The perceptual field is a cardinal concept of sensory psychology. 'Field' refers to a representation in which perceptual contents have spatial properties and relations which derive from the spatial properties and relations of corresponding stimuli. It is a matter of debate whether a perceptual field exists in touch analogous to the visual field. To study this issue, we investigated whether tactile stimuli on the palm can be perceived as complex stimulus patterns, according to basic spatial principles.

To clarify the extent, timing, and patient perspectives of great auricular nerve (GAN) morbidity and recovery after nerve sacrifice during parotidectomy during the first postoperative year. Design: Prospective series. Setting: Tertiary care academic medical center. Patients: Twenty-seven consecutive patients who underwent parotidectomy with GAN sacrifice. Main Outcome Measures: Preoperatively and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postoperatively, we performed light touch sensation tests on each patient to develop an ink map representing anesthesia and paresthesia in the GAN sensory territory; patients also completed an outcomes questionnaire. Results: Twenty-two (81%) of 27 patients completed follow-up. The prevalence and average area of anesthesia decreased continually during the first year according to sensory testing and patient scoring. Half of the patients had no anesthesia at 12 months. The prevalence and average area of paresthesia increased during the first year according to sensory testing; however, the contiguity and subjective scoring of paresthesia peaked at 6 months and decreased in subsequent follow-up points. Throughout the first year, patients had difficulty using the telephone, shaving, combing their hair, wearing earrings, and sleeping on the operative side because of both anesthesia and paresthesia. Conclusions: The impact of GAN sacrifice morbidity on patient quality of life is tolerable and improves during the first postoperative year. However, we feel that GAN morbidity may be bothersome enough to warrant efforts to preserve the posterior branch of the GAN when possible and appropriate.

The measure of the liking of a product remains mainly accomplished through a single integrated response. Whether liking exhibits dynamic changes during the consumption of a food remains largely unexplored. Besides, studying the temporal aspects of perceptions during eating is a growing research topic in sensory science. Different tools are available to measure the time course of one or more perceptions during food consumption, such as time intensity or temporal dominance of sensations. The studies using these tools have shown that panellists can provide information on the temporality of their perceptions and monitor their perceptions from onset through extinction. The aim of our study was to adapt the latter approach to investigate the temporal aspects of hedonic assessment. As such, we proposed, tested and compared two methods to measure the liking throughout the consumption of a food. Forty-nine consumers participated in the tasting of three different cereals. One method consisted of eliciting any liking change during consumption, whereas the other method consisted of scoring liking at four predefined time-points during consumption. We also proposed a new method to analyse the data and graphically represent the dynamics of liking. At a panel level, the two methods showed similar dynamics of liking for two of the three products. However, the changes of liking during consumption were quite low partly due to a poor consensus among subjects. Yet, the individual responses showed many different patterns of dynamic liking. K-means analyses resulted in a two-cluster partition for each method. Although not similar, the two partitions showed large overlap. Finally, correlation coefficients calculated per subject between overall liking scores and dynamic liking data suggested the importance of the beginning of the consumption event in the overall liking (i.e., the time averaged response).

Exposing different sense modalities (like sight, hearing or touch) to repeated simultaneous but spatially discordant stimulations generally causes recalibration of localization processes in one or both of the involved modalities, which is manifested through aftereffects. These provide opportunities for determining the extent of the changes induced by the exposure. Taking the so-called ventriloquism situation, in which synchronized sounds and light flashes are delivered in different locations, we examine if auditory recalibration produced by exposing tones of one frequency to attraction by discordant light flashes generalizes to different frequencies. Contrary to an earlier report, generalization was obtained across two octaves. This result did not depend on which modality attention was forced on through catch trials during exposure. Implications concerning the functional site of recalibration are briefly discussed.

Purpose -The aims of this paper is to determine, via an empirical study of beer consumers in Croatia, the influence of tasting on the validity of conjoint analysis (CA) under presence of familiar or unfamiliar brands. Design/methodology/approach -The research comprised a face-to-face survey with 403 beer consumers. The respondents were divided into four groups regarding CA experiment (familiar/unfamiliar beer brand in combination with presence or absence of beer tasting). CA validity was measured with five criteria: face validity, convergent validity, internal validity, predictive validity and subjective evaluation of conjoint task. In addition to the CA experiment, a structured questionnaire was used consisting of a few questions regarding respondents' socio-economic characteristics, beer purchasing, and consuming behaviour. Findings -The research results confirmed that tasting as an additional presentation method has significant influence on validity of CA. However, the results of the study indicate that tasting should be used as a stimulus presentation method for CA with food and beverage products/brands, which are unfamiliar to the consumers. When testing familiar brands and brands with established perceptions, simpler and less expensive verbal stimulus presentation can be used. Practical implications -According to the research results, it could be concluded that when performing CA with strong familiar brands, it is not necessary to use CA with tasting since tasting increases research complexity and costs and it does not achieve better results. However, tasting as a stimuli presentation method gives better results than pure verbal CA in the case of unfamiliar brands. Originality/value -The paper is one of the first to deal with tasting as a presentation method in conjoint analysis and its results have direct implications for the future use of CA with food and beverages.

Can consumer knowledge that a scent is composed of natural ingredients influence the perception of the fragrance? In the present study, 112 participants were asked to test and evaluate three perfumes from three different fragrance categories (floral, citrus and woody), all of which were made entirely from natural essential oils. Prior to the test and the evaluation of the scents, half of the subjects were informed of the natural origin of components, while the other half were not provided with that information. In addition, the pro-environmental orientation of all participants was assessed to analyze a potential interaction with the effect of the natural ingredients claim. Results revealed that participants' hedonic sensory perception, acceptance and purchase intention improved when they had been previously exposed to the natural ingredients claim. Results were robust across all three different fragrance types. Findings confirm the existence of a halo effect of natural ingredients claims affecting the perception of perfumes. However, hypothesized interaction effects with pro-environmentalism were not supported empirically. Implications for marketers of body-care products as well as regulators are discussed.

Basic taste solutions induce sensory perceptions via taste receptors and give rise to specific facial reactions. Many of these have been shown to be innate. The aim of this study was to explore relationships between the sensory perception of basic taste solutions at different concentrations and facial reactions.

In a clinical setting, acupuncture treatment consists of multiple components including somatosensory stimulation, treatment context, and attention to needle-based procedures. In order to dissociate somatosensory versus contextual and attentional aspects of acupuncture, we devised a novel form of placebo acupuncture, a visual manipulation dubbed phantom acupuncture, which reproduces the acupuncture needling ritual without somatosensory tactile stimulation. Subjects (N = 20) received both real (REAL) and phantom (PHNT) acupuncture. Subjects were retrospectively classified into two groups based on PHNT credibility (PHNTc, who found phantom acupuncture credible; and PHNTnc, who did not). Autonomic and psychophysical responses were monitored. We found that PHNT can be delivered in a credible manner. Acupuncture needling, a complex, ritualistic somatosensory intervention, induces sympathetic activation (phasic skin conductance [SC] response), which may be specific to the somatosensory com...

OBJECTIVE. We examined the relationship between pain perception, as expressed by pain catastrophizing level, and sensory processing patterns among typical adults. METHOD. Two hundred ninety healthy adults participated in this study: 138 men and 152 women. Their ages ranged from 18 to 50 (mean age = 30.2 ± 6.8). All participants completed the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). RESULTS. PCS scores significantly correlated with Low Registration, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding. Women had higher sensory sensitivity and a higher pain catastrophizing level than did men. CONCLUSION. Sensory processing patterns may be related to individual pain perception, as expressed in pain catastrophizing level. Intervention programs should take these factors into account to be more focused on the specific needs of each client, facilitate his or her optimal engagement in daily living activities, and elevate well-being.

In this study, we used a validated psychophysical tool, the hedonic general magnitude scale (hedonic gLMS), to examine whether hedonic responsivity after repetitive tasting of a sweettasting liquid follows a habituation pattern that is independent of adaptation to the sweet taste at the orosensory level, and whether the pattern of response is different between obese (N=22) and lean (N=32) women. The perceived sweet intensity and hedonic value of a 24% w/v sucrose solution was measured with the gLMS and sucrose preferences with the Monell two-series, forced-choice tracking method. Although women perceived the same intensity of sweetness across trials, obese women responded with a slower rate of habituation to the liking of repetitive sweettaste orosensory stimulation than did lean women. Therefore, the decreased hedonic response observed in obese women cannot be explained by adaptation processes at the orosensory level or by differential perception of taste intensity or scale bias between the groups. The groups did not differ in the level of sweetness preferred. Because obesity was associated with slower patterns of habituation to the palatability elicited by sweetness in women, this characteristic could contribute to slower satiation rates, prolongation of eating episodes, and excessive food consumption in obese women.

Objectives: The present study compared the perception of electric and magnetic stimuli for reflex appearance threshold (RT) and reflex saturation threshold (RS) of the exteroceptive suppression reflex (ES) in the masseter muscle. Methods: Twelve healthy males and 12 females (age: 24.2 ± 3.2 years) participated. The surface EMG was recorded from the left masseter muscle. The stimulus intensities were set as multiple values of the sensory threshold (ST), and were applied to the skin above the left mental nerve. Subjects reported the perceived intensity of the stimulus on a numeric rating scale (NRS) at RT and RS for the early and late ES (ES1 and ES2, respectively). Results: ES2 had a lower RT and RS compared to ES1 in electric and magnetic stimulation. Significantly lower NRS values at RT and RS were found with painless magnetic stimulation compared to electric stimulation (p < 0.01). Conclusions: In contrast to electrical stimulation, both ES1 and ES2 appeared and saturated with painless magnetic stimuli. Significance: The present results indicate that both ES1 and ES2 have a non-nociceptive origin. Painless magnetic stimuli will be an advantage in ES reflex examinations for various orofacial pain conditions.

To determine the changes in corneal sensitivity to different stimulus modalities in diabetes mellitus (DM)1 and DM2 patients with retinopathy, and to explore whether argon laser photocoagulation exacerbates sensitivity loss in diabetic patients. METHODS. Corneal sensitivity to different modalities of stimulus was determined in one randomized eye in 52 patients with DM1 (n ϭ 35) or DM2 (n ϭ 17), and in 27 healthy subjects. Medical history was obtained from all the patients, including age, sex, time from DM diagnosis, type of diabetes, time from onset of retinopathy, type of diabetic retinopathy, and type of argon laser treatment. Corneal sensitivity was determined using a gas esthesiometer. Mechanical, chemical, and thermal (heat and cold) stimuli were applied on the central cornea. RESULTS. Sensitivity thresholds to selective mechanical, chemical, and cold stimulation were significantly higher in DM patients compared to controls. Sensitivity threshold to mechanical and chemical stimuli was higher in DM2 than in DM1 patients. In DM1 patients, mechanical threshold increased with time after DM diagnosis. No correlation was found between sensitivity thresholds to chemical or thermal stimulation and the age of the patient, type of retinopathy, or time from its diagnosis. Laser treatment generated a further impairment of corneal sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS. Corneal sensitivity to mechanical, chemical, and thermal stimulation is decreased in DM patients, suggesting that diabetes affects homogeneously the different types of sensory neurons innervating the cornea. Corneal sensitivity appears to be more disturbed in DM2 than in DM1. Laser treatment of DM patients generates a further impairment in corneal sensitivity, probably as the result of physical damage to ciliary nerves. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011;52:6043-6049)

PURPOSE. Identification of risk factors for accommodative esotropia may help to determine which children with hyperopia may benefit from early spectacle correction or preventive therapy. METHODS. Participants in the family history study were 95 consecutive patients, aged 18 to 60 months, with accommodative esotropia. Participants in the binocular sensory function study were a subgroup of 41 children enrolled in the family history study within 1 month of onset, while the esodeviation was still intermittent. Participants in the hypermetropia study were 345 consecutive patients, ages 12 months to 8 years, with refractive error of ϩ2.00 D or greater and no esodeviation before age 12 months. RESULTS. In the family history study, 23% of children with accommodative esotropia had an affected first-degree relative, and 91% had at least one affected relative. In the binocular sensory function study, random-dot stereoacuity was abnormal in 41% of children, whereas an abnormal motion VEP, Worth 4-dot, or positive 4-PD base-out prism responses were present in 4% or less of the children. In the hypermetropia study, patients with a mean spherical equivalent of Ͻ ϩ3.00 D and significant anisometropia had a 7.8-fold increased risk for accommodative esotropia over nonanisometropic patients. CONCLUSIONS. A positive family history, subnormal random-dot stereopsis, and hypermetropic anisometropia each pose a significant risk for the development of accommodative esotropia. Assessment of these risk factors in conjunction with refractive screening should help to identify those children who are most likely to benefit from early spectacle correction or preventive treatment. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005;46:526 -529)

The correlation between somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and. sensory perception was studied in 110 patients with traumatic chronic spinal cord lesions. Perception thresholds over the legs for light touch, vibratory sensibility, temperature and thermal pain were tested together with recordings of tibial and peroneal SEPs. Tibial nerve SEPs correlated better with sensory perception than peroneal nerve SEPs. Normal tibial nerve SEPs were not present with absent or trace vibratory sensibility and vice versa. However, we found many exceptions to the correlation between temperature and pain perception and SEPs. Light touch, vibratory sensibility, and SEPs were highly correlated between each other, while temperature and pain perception correlated poorly to these other modalities. This represents an evident segregation of touch perception, vibratory sensibility and SEPs, which are thought to share dorsal columns as a common ascending pathway, and temperature and pain perception known to be related to the spinothalamic system.

Most behaviors are conditional upon successful navigation of the environment, which depends upon distance perception learned over repeated trials. Unfortunately, we understand little about how learning affects distance perception-especially in the most common human navigational scenario, that of adult navigation in familiar environments. Further, dominant theories predict mutually exclusive effects of learning on distance perception, especially when the risks or costs of navigation differ. We tested these competing predictions in four experiments in which we also presented evolutionarily relevant navigation costs. Methods included within-and between-subjects comparisons and longitudinal designs in laboratory and real-world settings. Data suggested that adult distance estimation rapidly reflects evolutionarily relevant navigation costs and repeated exposure does little to change this. Human distance perception may have evolved to reflect navigation costs quickly and reliably in order to provide a stable signal to other behaviors and with little regard for objective accuracy.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce everyday aesthetics in education. First, it presents everyday aesthetics as a subdiscipline within philosophical aesthetics, that revisits sensory perception as the backdrop of all experience, claims ordinary life is a proper venue for aesthetic inquiry, and problematizes the impact aesthetic preferences have on habitual deci-sions.

Second, the paper argues that among the diverse matters students learn in school, they learn—explicitly or implicitly—what and how to perceive, as well as the pedagogical purposes of daily perception. School models the relationships that students will develop between what they perceive, what they think about it, and how they act accordingly. Next, the paper elaborates on the notions of “school aesthetic matrixes” and “space and place in school”. School aesthetic matrixes refer to perceptual patterns that allow characterizing relationships between daily perception and the pedagogical project of a school. They mani-fest through expressions such as prison school, home school, mall school, etc. Space and place in school allude to concomitant experiences, of corporeal basis, that allow describ-ing how we inhabit the world. What distinguishes them is the approach each one gives to the senses and the body.

The paper concludes by calling attention to the comprehension and role of perception in education, urging to mind the aesthetic-pedagogical character that students develop throughout 12 years of schooling. Ultimately, the key relationships we develop with ourselves, others, and the world, entail a basic perceptual dimension that can be educated to become more purposefully and integrally present in life.

It is part of basic emotions like fear or anger that they prepare the brain to act adaptively. Hence scenes representing emotional events are normally associated with characteristic adaptive behavior. Normally, face and body representation areas in the brain are modulated by these emotions when presented in the face or body. Here, we provide neuroimaging evidence (using functional magnetic resonance imaging) that the extrastriate body area (EBA) is highly responsive when subjects observe isolated faces presented in emotional scenes. This response of EBA to threatening scenes in which no body is present gives rise to speculation about its function. We discuss the possibility that the brain reacts proactively to the emotional meaning of the scene.

The objective of this work is to gain more insight into the processes of oral perception of food texture. Particularly, the limits for detectable thickness differences of objects, which are evaluated in the human mouth, are investigated. In a sensory study small, flexible circular disks (diameter in mm range) of varying thickness (in mm range) and material properties are evaluated between tongue and palate in human subjects. The thicker sample is identified in pair comparison tests. Experimental evidence suggests the existence of one detection process (attempt to align tongue and palate and the disk between them) to which the tongue-palate system reacts in two different ways: (1) by bending the disk (thickness below 125 mm, Young's modulus of 480 MPa) and (2) by impressing the disk into the tongue (thickness above % 200 mm, Young's modulus of 480 MPa), whereas the first reaction is necessarily followed by the second if the first one fails. For both ranges, differences in thickness of 25 mm can be detected. The two reaction processes cover isolated ranges and leave an insecure detection range in between them, for which neither one of the processes applies. Since deformation and load distribution on the disk are supposed to play a major role in the first detection process (the loads exerted on the disk in order to bend it are compared), we formulate a mathematical model to quantify these mechanical effects. The model is employed to identify parameter constellations (thickness, material properties) for which the insecure range is omitted or the range is enlarged. Theoretical findings are confirmed by further experiments. Their results are consistent with the characteristics and functioning of the mechanoreceptors in-mouth. r

The widespread occurrence of ideophones, large classes of words specialized in evoking sensory imagery, is little known outside linguistics and anthropology. Ideophones are a common feature in many of the world’s languages but are underdeveloped in English and other Indo-European languages. Here we study the meanings of ideophones in Siwu (a Kwa language from Ghana) using a pile-sorting task. The goal was to uncover the underlying structure of the lexical space and to examine the claimed link between ideophones and perception. We found that Siwu ideophones are principally organized around fine-grained aspects of sensory perception, and map onto salient psychophysical dimensions identified in sensory science. The results ratify ideophones as dedicated sensory vocabulary and underline the relevance of ideophones for research on language and perception.

Vision plays a privileged role in social interaction and the construction of intersubjective reality. Given that one of sociology's tasks is to problematize the taken for granted, research that examines rarely foregrounded non-visual modes of sensory perception is a powerful resource. This article draws on twenty-seven interviews that explore blind people's perceptions of male and female bodies. I highlight several distinctive features of non-visual sex attribution (salience, speed, and diachronicity), and argue that conceptions of sex as ''self-evident'' primarily reflect visual perception. These findings suggest the need to explore the sociology of perception as a new approach to the sociology of the body, and more broadly highlight the role of sensory perception in the social construction of reality.

Objectives: All individuals need to have the ability of appropriate sensory processing for proper functioning in the environment and participation in daily activities. Moreover, behavioral functions can be affected by sensory processing problems. This study aimed to determine the relationship between behavioral problems and sensory processing in 7 to 10 years old children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Methods: This descriptive (cross-sectional) study included 60 children with ADHD aged 7 to 10 years, who were referred to a comprehensive psychiatric center. Short Sensory Profile (SSP) and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) questionnaires were used for assessing the patterns of sensory processing and behavioral problems in the patients. Results: There was a negative correlation between internalizing behavioral problems (r=−0.426) and externalizing behavioral problems (r=−0.465), and the total score of sensory processing in ADHD children (P<0.05). Discussion: The findings of this study showed that some behaviors in children with ADHD could be due to certain defects in their sensory processing.

This article focuses on the role of the artistic process in connecting to the natural environment. In my research I have explored what participants experienced and learned when they engage in different types of arts-based environmental education (AEE) practices that I have facilitated. The premise of AEE is that efforts to learn about our (natural) environment can effectively take their starting point in an artistic activity, usually conducted in groups. I found that, on the whole, two major orientations can be distinguished. One starts from the point of aesthetic sensibility: the tuning in with the senses, or with ‘a new organ of perception’ (Goethe), in order to perceive ‘the more than human’ with fresh new eyes. This tradition can be traced back to (but is by no means limited) to the Romantic Movement. Art in this context may help to amplify the receptivity of the senses and strengthen a sense of connectedness to the natural world. The other major orientation in seeking bridges between nature and art builds on a view of artistic process as leading to unexpected outcomes and ‘emergent properties’. The fundamentally singular experience of making a work of art may evoke an aesthetic object that becomes a ‘self-sufficient, spiritually breathing subject’ (Kandinsky). The artwork can be spontaneously generative and multi-layered with meanings, some of which may even be ambiguous and paradoxical. But perhaps more importantly: it can catch the participant of an AEE activity by surprise, overwhelm him or her as ‘coming from behind one’s back’. The element of improvisation, of taking in the new and unanticipated and accommodating for it, is the core quality here. These two orientations, when practiced as part of AEE, have implications on how we relate to nature through art. In the closing of this article I address the question of whether it is possible to bridge the dualism between the two orientations.

This paper examines the role of expectation of two different aspects of urban ambiance (smell and sound), on people's experiences and perceptions of urban environments. It draws from two separate sensewalking studies of English cities. The first, examining expectations of odor in Doncaster, Manchester, Sheffield and London: the second, expectations of soundscapes in Manchester and London. In drawing from these investigations, sensory expectations are found highly influential in urban place experience and perception, providing different layers of meaning and understanding of place. Furthermore, perceptions of odors and sounds themselves (their detection and mental processing) are also revealed as influenced by the environmental context within which they are, or are not, detected.

How much does stimulus input shape perception? The common-sense view is that our
perceptions are representations of objects and their features and that the stimulus structures the perceptual object. The problem for this view concerns perceptual biases as responsible for distortions and the subjectivity of perceptual experience. These biases are increasingly studied as constitutive factors of brain processes in recent neuroscience. In neural network models the brain is said to cope with the plethora of sensory information by predicting stimulus regularities on the basis of previous experiences. Drawing on this development, this chapter analyses perceptions as processes. Looking at olfaction as a model system, it argues for the need to abandon a stimulus- centred perspective, where smells are thought of as stable percepts, computationally linked to external objects such as odorous molecules. Perception here is presented as a measure of changing signal ratios in an environment informed by expectancy effects from top-down processes.

T HIS TEXT ELABORATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRACTICES OF SENSORY PERCEPtion, bodily habits, representation and cultural difference in Bogotá's urban spaces. Of theoretical significance here are the notions of "mimesis and alterity" as they are deployed in recent post-structural approaches to a social, cultural and historical understanding of everyday life, pointing towards the embodiment of this appearance as a perceptual practice of dispositions. Urban life, its utterances and "senses of place" appear here in a context of "heteroglossia" where the representation of language asserts the difference as well as the similarities found between the ethnographer's and the informants' data and various class habitus.

In sensor networks different types of sensors are used to capture events, recognize contexts, derive states of objects or monitor processes within application scenarios. We envision the use of the presented technology in areas that are very complex, e.g. in industrial applications. The presented system uses sensor information from wireless sensor nodes that are forwarded and aggregated in an information processing system. The high density of both number of sensors and overall sensor readings leads to an information overload situation, where it is difficult for a human to perceive detailed information using text based information input. We propose the use of a virtual environment -SensorRAUM -for improved sensory perception.