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Futon de algodão e um mimo para o neto!!

Olfactory perception influenced by background and semantic information

When two people smell the same thing, they can have remarkably different reactions, depending on their cultural background. Researchers at the Neuro have found that even when two cultures share the same language and many traditions, their reactions to the same smells can be different.

In a partnership with researchers from the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre in France, clinical neuropsychologist Jelena Djordjevic and her group at the Montreal Neurological Institute tested subjects in Quebec for their subjective impressions of different scents, while their collaborators in France did the same with French subjects. They selected six scents: anise, lavender, maple, wintergreen, rose and strawberry.

Participants were asked to smell each scent first without knowing what the scent is, then again after being told its name. The subjects rated the scent on pleasantness, intensity, familiarity, and edibility. The scientists also measured the subjects’ non-verbal reactions to each scent, including sniffing, activity of facial muscles, respiration and heart rate.

The researchers found significant differences between ratings of the same odours among the French and French-Canadian subjects. For example, the French gave wintergreen much lower pleasantness ratings than French-Canadians. In France, wintergreen is used more in medicinal products than in Canada, where it is found more in candy. Canadians were more familiar with scents of maple and wintergreen than the French, while in turn people from France were more familiar with the scent of lavender. When asked to describe odours, Canadians were better at describing maple and wintergreen, while people from France were better at describing lavender. Anise was rated similarly in two cultures but was described more often as “licorice” in Quebec and as “anise” in France.

Providing the names of the odours to subjects increased their ratings of familiarity, pleasantness and edibility. Furthermore, cultural differences disappeared or decreased when the names were provided. This was true even for the non-verbal reactions to scents. The findings suggest that mental representations activated by odour names are more similar between cultures than the mental representations activated by sensory information alone. Cultural differences in perception of odours are subtle, and are easily reduced by the mere presence of odour names.

The results were published in the journal Chemical Senses.

This study reinforces the idea that our brain’s processing of odour is not simply its reaction to the chemical compounds that make up the scent. It is influenced both by our previous experience with the scent and our knowledge of what the scent is.

While previous studies have come to similar conclusions, this study is unique in that it compared two cultures which share the same language and have similar traditions. This eliminated the possibility of language being a cause of the different reactions between groups.

“In psychology, we call these effects ‘top-down influences’ and we were excited to further develop our understanding of them”, says Djordjevic. “Even basic processes, such as smelling a scent, are influenced by where we come from and what we know. The sense of smell occupies a very old part of our brain. Studying this old sensory system helps us understand how we have evolved as a species. Furthermore, olfactory loss is common in normal aging and also in many neurological conditions. Studying these disorders can provide us with clues about the disease mechanisms and possible ways to treat them.”

Mapa das novas infecções do ransomware

Assista ao mapa ao vivo das novas infecções do ransomware WannaCry http://www.tecmundo.com.br/ataque-hacker/116649-assista-mapa-ao-vivo-novas-infeccoes-ransomware-wannacry.htm

Earth from Space - LIVE video of Earth From The International Space Station

Thanks, amazing-space-fan!

Click image for 668 x 900 size.

On the right an ad for mosquito coil product, for King Corporation., on the left “gold standard” for ink.

Thanks to bnz, Paula Wirth, and yoboseiyo for the info.

Scanned from Taschen’s “Japanese Beauties”.

Katori Senkou mosquito coil ad, 1900-1929.

My brother and I saw this precious little rat snake watching everyone gardening in my grandparents’ yard. How could anyone hate this sweet curious face? I was cooing at him for like 20 minutes ♥️

What is it about this twilight hour? Even the sound of a barely perceptible breeze pierces the heart. (Ono no Komachi, c. 825 – c. 900, Japanese poet of the early Heian period).

It’s no longer day but night hasn’t come yet either. One by one, the voices that fill the hours of the day with their incessant noise fade until the silence is almost complete. Some aspects of the colours stay concealed in daylight, but now comes the moment for them to appear. The evening light reduces every superfluous detail, every unnecessary shape; it is at the same time the absolute truth and the most beautiful lie.

Today let’s wander in evening landscapes (top to bottom, left to right): Evening at Ushibori, by Kawase Hasui, 1930 [source]; Evening Glow at Choshi, by Tsuchiya Koitsu, 1932 [source]; Dusk at Itako, by Kawase Hasui, 1932 [source]; Fishing Boats at Sea, by Ohara Koson, c. 1900 [source]; Evening at Minano in Chichibu, by Kawase Hasui, 1946 [source]; Evening Snow at Hashiba, by Utagawa Hiroshige II 1861 [source].

The Good Book!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epSzKZBkVG4&feature=share

Meet ZUtA, the pocket printer that solves all of your on-the-go printing needs. 🖨