Blame it on the Music

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 5 comments

This past week I got to immerse myself in the most distinctly French experience I’ve had since arriving in Paris – le festival de musique – a festival that’s essentially a giant excuse for everyone in France to leave work early, throw back a few drinks and enjoy music on every street corner, bar, park, and metro station in the city.

It was an amazing day, night, and morning.

There was such a diversity of interesting music – a solo guitarist playing tunes from “dirty dancing” to a bunch of kids, two dueling DJs (the one with a portable smoke machine won), a couple of Rastafarian reggae singers on the RER train, and even a man playing a collection of giant bells on truck bed outside Notre Dame. Just as interesting was the diversity of behavior amongst those listening to the music, specifically their drinking behavior.

Being the upstanding, responsible, academic individual that I am, I used my scientific observation abilities to hone in on the type and amount of alcohol being consumed by the groups listening to each genre of music. I then used this data to make educated decisions about which music attracted the most degenerate groups so that I could join them avoid them. 

NBB students enjoying the portable smoke machine.

Most of the Parisians seamed to be keeping their drinking in check. Those listening to the blues street musicians were sipping on wine and beer, the large group around the truck-bell musician was doing the same, and not surprisingly, the kids surrounding the solo-guitarist weren’t tossing back too many brews. The dueling DJs were a different matter though, and I had to unfortunately dedicate more time there to document the significantly larger quantities of wine consumed by the audience – at one point I even saw a flask and a mini-keg!

I witnessed the most alcohol consumption later that night though, when I followed the deep boom of a bass to a large dubstep-rave outside the Odeon metro station. As I approached the mass of people jumping in synchrony to the deafening music it quickly became apparent that these festival-goers had traded their wine for many liters of flavored vodka.

This sparked my curiosity, why were some groups heavier drinkers than others? Was there something about dubstep and the DJ-house music that caused those listening to drink more? There was a significantly higher percentage of young people at the rave but that doesn’t necessarily account for why they were drinking hard alcohol while the college-aged kids elsewhere were drinking beer and wine. I needed to do some research.
The Effect of Noise on Taste 

The truck bell choir. Definitely the most interesting instrument of the night!

In 2011, an article published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, looked at the effect of music and noise on how 80 college-aged individuals perceived the taste of alcohol (Stafford et al., 2012).

The study was pretty simple. When each participant entered the lab they were blindfolded and given a set of four different solutions (bitter, sour, sweet, and salty) to taste so that they had a baseline to compare against for the rest of the experiment. The students then put on headphones and were divided into four groups. One group had house music played in both ears, another had a news article being read in both ears, a third had music playing in one ear and the article in the other, and a fourth heard neither noise. The members of each group were then given alcohol of varying concentrations (with mixers) and asked to rate the level of sweet/bitter/sour/salty taste and overall strength of the alcohol in each drink (on a scale of 1-100).

Before we evaluate the results it’s important to first think about how the researchers controlled for external factors that might affect the data (like different alcohol preferences in the subjects, mood at the time of the study, type of music they normally listen to, etc.). It appears that the researchers did account for most of these issues, and they chose students with standard alcohol habits, no known taste aversions, and who were in average moods. They also chose the music genre and alcohol mixers based off of an initial study of the preferences of ten students. However, it would have been great to see the house music compared to other genres like jazz and country to make sure that the data wasn’t genre-dependent.

The results showed that those listening to music in both ears actually found the alcoholic drinks significantly sweater than the other three groups. Additionally, the ability to discern between the different strengths of alcohol was significantly lower in the music/news and only-music individuals than the other two groups, a result that has been shown in other papers (Seo et al., 2012). The fact that music only appeared to effect sweetness perception and none of the other three tastes is especially interesting because on average, the sweater alcohol, the more it gets consumed (Lanier et al., 2005). 

How does this all occur in the brain?

Location of Odeon rave!

There are very few articles that show how music affects taste perception in the brain. One thing that is somewhat similar is a process known as sensory deprivation. In sensory deprivation, one sense in eliminated and because of that another sense gets stronger. A perfect example of this would be how blind individuals often have a very good sense of touch. It’s been shown that the louder a noise the more it inhibits a person’s ability to distinguish taste (Woods et al., 2011). The music at the rave was much louder than anything I had heard at the festival, so maybe the reverse of sensory deprivation was occurring. Perhaps the Parisians’ sensory systems were so over-stimulated by the loud music that they were less able to perceive the alcohol concentration, leading to the consumption of more and harder alcohol. Additionally, the music might have made the vodka taste sweeter, making it even easier to drink. This is primarily speculation though, and lack of concluding evidence makes it difficult to know exactly what was happening in the brain. Perhaps I will have to conduct a research study of my own to determine the regions of the brain involved, as well as the effect of different music genres on alcohol perception. I wonder if any Emory students would volunteer for such a tasking experiment!

 

– Camden MacDowell

 

Works Cited

Lanier, S. A., Hayes, J. E., & Duffy, V. B. (2005). Sweet and bitter tastes of alcoholic beverages mediate alcohol intake in of-age undergraduates. Physiology &Behavior, 83(5), 821–831.

Stafford L., Agobiani E., Fernandes M. (2012). Effects of noise and distraction on alcohol perception. Food Quality and Preference 24: 218-224

Seo H., Hahner A., Gudziol V., Scheibe M., Hummel T. (2012). Influence of background noise on the performance in the odor sensitivity task: effects of noise type and extraversion. Exp Brain Res 222:89-97

Woods, A. T., Poliakoff, E., Lloyd, D. M., Kuenzel, J., Hodson, R., Gonda, H., et al.(2011). Effect of background noise on food perception. Food Quality and Preference 22(1), 42-47 

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Going Green–Literally.

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 5 comments

Paris is unique in its ability to blend modernity and antiquity. In the heart of Paris, buildings are decades if not centuries old, with intricate designs and rows of windows, all neatly laced in criss-crossing streets and alleyways. It’s a dizzying sight, but one that sparks all of my imaginations and Google searches of the city view. In the peripheral regions of the city are giant skyscrapers, metal behemoths proving that Paris is not just an old city, but still vibrant and thriving well in the 21st century.

Square trees--welcome to Paris?

Amidst all of this man-made wonder, still I feel that something is amiss—greenery. Sure there are parks, and trees carefully planted in rows along the streets, but I can’t help but miss that part of home. I grew up in the suburbs of metro-Atlanta, where trees grew haphazardly and buildings were constructed around them. Nature is one of the reasons for which I am excited to return home–to get my hands messy with dirt and tree sap instead of congesting my lungs with cigarette smoke and exhaust fumes. I guess that’s to be expected in the city, but that is the reason why I would not feel ‘at home’ here. When I do find some odd time, I like to venture into the park across Cite U. It’s huge, with rolling hills, monstrous trees, and a laidback atmosphere with people hoping to escape the hustle and bustle of Paris—if only for a moment.

A map of Parc Montsouris

The freshness of nature is what draws me to the great outdoors. It’s rejuvenating, like taking a nice hot shower on a cold day. I feel connected to Mother Earth, and free of the dusty rooms and buildings that seem to trap more than shelter. Though I have come to appreciate the emotional (and even spiritual) boost I receive when taking nature walks, I began to wonder if there are more tangible benefits to walking in the woods. As luck would have it, research has shown the possibility of improving cognition by surrounding oneself in nature.

Parc Montsouris

A study by Berman et al. focused on understanding how nature can affect individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) (2012). This disorder affects working memory and is characterized by a constant negative mood.  Nature may help these people improve cognitively, or conversely cause them to ruminate and thus worsen their mood. The researchers used 20 participants diagnosed with MDD. Before starting the nature walks, the participants’ short term memory span and mood were measured using the BDS task and PANAS, respectively. BDS (backward digit span) task involves patients repeating a number auditorily presented each second. PANAS (positive and negative affect schedule) is a questionnaire in which participants rate in terms of intensity a list of emotions (both positive and negative) that they may be feeling. Lastly, the participants were asked to ruminate on a negative event in their life, to see if nature walks would alleviate or aggravate the ruminations.

A park near the Bastille, on an archway above the busy streets below

Participants walked on a designated path for about 50 minutes (2.8 miles) in either a secluded park or traffic-heavy downtown area. Upon returning, they again completed the BDS task and PANAS. The researchers also asked the patients what they thought about during their walks, to roughly see if ruminations persisted on the walk. The experiment was repeated a week later, with the participants walking along the path they had not walked in the first session. Results show that the participants had relatively similar BDS score before the tests, but those in the nature walk had higher scores (i.e. a larger memory capacity) than those in the city walk. In terms of mood, the participants scored higher on more positive emotions and lower on negative emotions after the nature walk than after the urban walk. Lastly, participants in either walk ruminated on the negative event to the relatively same degree.

Garden in the Chateau de Villandry

Garden in the Chateau de Villandry

These results of the study are interesting because they suggest that perhaps one can improve memory and mood simply through walking through nature. Even though the ruminations didn’t differ during either walk, still the participants demonstrated better short term memory and mood, indicating that just avoiding those negative thoughts is not why they scored higher on the tests. Maybe environment does play a stronger role in our cognition than previously thought.

Still, I was curious to learn more about the root of cognitive improvement through these nature walks. After some research, I found data that blew my mind. A study investigated the role of a bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae in mice behavior and learning (Matthews and Jenks, 2013). These bacteria are found in soil, water, and plants, i.e. the basic ingredients of a nature walk. Previous research has studied the symbiotic (both parties benefiting) relationship between microbes and animal hosts, and the possible brain-gut connection through these animals improve cognitive abilities after ingesting the bacteria.

Lopsided tree, perfect for climbing

Skipping the gory details, mice were tested for anxiety-related behaviors and speed of completion of maze navigation. Those fed the bacteria had reduced anxiety-related behaviors and completed the maze twice as quickly as mice not given the bacteria. The level of activity did not differ between the experimental and control mice, since both groups used the running wheel a similar amount of time. The results are astonishing because they show that by simply ingesting certain bacteria, mice can improve learning and reduce their anxiety.

If we can somehow test this in humans, and ascertain to what degree the Mycobacterium vaccae bacteria exist in our environment and our bodies, maybe we can come to similar conclusions. These data could potentially show that walking in nature does not only give a psychological boost—we may be actually replenishing our stock of that bacteria, becoming cognitively stronger without even realizing it. Though we may be far from truly understanding this effect in humans, I will take these results as a cue to continue my nature walks. If not for the healthy boost of bacteria, at least I can leave the crowded, polluted city for fresh air, green trees, and a glimpse of untouched beauty.

-Mayur Patel

Relaxing on a giant branch

Relaxing on a giant branch

References:

Berman M, Kross E, Krpan K, Askren M, Burson A, Deldin P, Kaplan S, Sherdell L, Gotlib I, Jonides J (2012) Interacting with nature improves cognition and affect for individuals with depression. Journal of Affective Disorders 140: 300-305

Matthews D, Jenks S (2013) Ingestion of Mycobacterium vaccae decreases anxiety-related behavior and improves learning in mice. Behavioral Processes 96: 27-35

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Fete de la Musique

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 3 comments

This past Friday (June 21st) is the annual Paris Fete de la Musique, or the Paris music festival.  European countries such as France have a long history of successful musicians creating magnificent masterpieces.  To this day, we often have the opportunity to listen to street musicians perform in the metro station, on the RER, or just by the side of the streets.  Because of the easily available music in pretty much every single metro station of Paris, you might think that the Fete de la Musique is nothing special.  However, it is completely different.

Notre Dame

The party started around 4pm as musicians began to set up their own speakers and instruments on almost every single street and bar of Paris.  We went to Notre Dame as our first stop and we were already welcomed with all different genres of music from classical to folk to choral to bass-thumping club music.  As we wandered around on the side streets near Notre Dame along with hundreds of other people, stopping at different concerts and listening to different street musicians playing, I noticed my ability to focus on the music I want to enjoy despite all these background noises.  Somehow, my brain was able to do a descent job ignoring noises consisting off motorcycles, tourists asking for directions, nearby musicians, and drunk people singing out of tune.  However, the occasional car honking sounds can still distract me from the beautiful music of the Fete de la Musique.

Musicians at Fete de la Musique

Musicians at Fete de la Musique

A little bit a research shows that there is biological basis behind our ability to ignore background noise and focus on the wonderful melodies of music.  A study done by Perez-Gonzalez et al. (2005) found a type of neuron that will respond to novel sounds but not a repetition of sounds; it is located in the inferior colliculus (IC) of rats, part of the midbrain nuclei that receives input from the auditory cortex and peripheral auditory pathway.  Specifically, this type of neuron is named “detector neuron” and shows stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) in which these neurons are able to detect all frequencies of sound within the rats’ hearing frequency range, but will stop firing if the same pitch of sound is repeated at 0.5 hertz or higher.  However, the firing of these neurons can be brought back when a sound of a different pitch is introduced (Perez-Gonzalez et al., 2005).  Although discovered in a rat model, it is possible that humans also have the same kind of neurons. This would explain why I was able to filter out constant repeated background traffic noise when listening to the changing notes of a classical masterpiece that a violinist was playing.  However, when a car honked, I would get distracted because this type of detector neuron will fire to the sudden change in pitch of the traffic noise caused by the honking sound.

More recently, research on shifting attention between different sound sources further differentiated between a top-down (voluntary) and bottom-up (involuntary) shift of auditory attention.  For example, I made the conscious choice of focusing on the violinist playing music; this is a top-down shift of attention.  However, when a car honking noise surprised me and caught my attention, it is a bottom-up involuntary shift of attention.  To test the difference in brain activation, Huang et al. (2012) used fMRI while testing 19 healthy subjects on hearing tests.  Specifically, in a 10-second trial, the healthy subjects were informed to wait for a “cue” (sound) at the ear where a subsequent  “target” sound is likely to appear.  After the cue sound, the subjects were instructed to pay attention to the ear that received the cue and press a button as fast as possible right after hearing the target sound.  However, in 20% of the trials the “target” sound is replaced by a novel sound opposite to the ear that received the cue in order to trigger involuntary attention shift (Huang et al., 2012).  The fMRI results showed different activation pattern of the brain between voluntary cued attention shift and the involuntary novel sound attention shift.  For voluntary attention shift, superior / posterior intra-parietal sulcus (IPS), located on the surface of the parietal lobe and precentral areas such as Pontine micturition center (PMC), part of the brainstem and frontal eye fields (FEF), a region of the prefrontal cortex, are more activated.  For involuntary attention shift, inferior IPS, posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), and temporal parietal junction (TPJ) are more activated.

Intraparietal Sulcus (IPS)

Frontal Eye Fields

Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ)

Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS)

While knowing all these different brain regions can be confusing and might not be necessary, it is more important to recognize the idea that this study demonstrated two types of auditory attention shifts supported by the evidence of different brain activations using fMRI.  One potential flaw of this study is the inherent difficulty to distinguish whether the brain areas activated are due to attention shifting or other pathways that happens to be activated by the auditory stimuli.  In addition, a slightly bigger sample size would increase the credibility of this study. Despite these flaws, combining the more macro view of brain area activations of voluntary and involuntary attention shift to the micro view of specific neurons that fire when a novel auditory stimulus is introduced, researchers have gotten closer to understanding the complex auditory system that enables us to filter out sound waves that are not important and only focuses on the sounds that are more important such as the wonderful music at the Fete de la Musique.

-Eric Yao

References:

Huang S, Belliveau JW, Tengshe C, Ahveninen J (2012) Brain networks of novelty-driven involuntary and cued voluntary auditory attention shifting. PLoS One 7:e44062.

Perez-Gonzalez D, Malmierca MS, Covey E (2005) Novelty detector neurons in the mammalian auditory midbrain. The European journal of neuroscience 22:2879-2885.

 

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Put on Your Dancing Shoes

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 1 comment

Last Friday, we had the incredible opportunity to be a part of Paris’ Fête de la Musique, a celebration of music in all its forms. Starting in the evening and lasting well into the next morning, the festival brings thousands of musicians to hundreds of bars, clubs, courtyards, and street corners in all twenty of the arrondissements of the city. Everyone crowds the streets to celebrate, and there is music wherever you turn; oftentimes musicians are so close that you can actually hear multiple performances simultaneously. As the night went on, we found ourselves immersed in an environment filled with new friends, loud music, and lots of dancing. We danced alongside the Parisians to club electronica, gritty rock, solo vocals, drum circles, and even American pop. The instinct to move in synchrony with the music was not only consistent across genres, but also ubiquitous among individuals. This final post of our trip aims to explore the profound and fascinating link between dancing and music.

Venues for Fête de la Musique 2013. A better question: where isn't there music?

One prominent theory to explain movement coordinated with music suggests that this type of synchronized movement simulates music production itself, which may have evolved as a method of social bonding (Levitin and Tirovolas, 2009). The importance of music as a type of honest, yet generalized, form of communication may have lead to activation of reward systems in the brain upon not only personal production of music, but imitating the production of music present in the environment. I personally tend to disagree with this hypothesis. Though I find actual production of music to be the most enjoyable of all, I do not necessarily feel that fingering along accurately to a piano lick is any more rewarding than flailing my entire body to the beat. Though my own personal experiences prove nothing, this theory of pleasure being derived from musical imitation tends to draw skepticism in literature on the topic, as it is not even clear that music is an evolutionary adaptation in the first place.

One of the festival's larger venues.

More recent research, however, takes a different approach to the question. Testing of both musicians and non-musicians suggests that moving to a beat actually enhances perception of the metrical structure (Su and Pöppel, 2012). The experiment that demonstrated this was actually fairly straightforward. Test subjects listened to rhythmic excerpts that maintained a constant tempo throughout and were instructed either to move to the music (e.g. foot-tapping, head-nodding, or body-swaying) or were told to sit still while they listened. Participants were also told to indicate what they felt to be the beat of the music by tapping their finger on the table in front of them. Once the music began, the researchers would occasionally silence the music at random on key beats, though subjects were instructed to continue tapping during these “dropped” beats. The accuracy of the placement of the dropped beat and overall consistency of tapping throughout the sequence were measured and compared between test groups, and researchers found significant improvements in both measures when the subjects were moving versus remaining still. Interestingly, this finding held true regardless of what the consistent tempo was. Whether at 60 beats per minute (the tempo of a very slow ballad) or at 210 bpm (well above the vast majority of music), synchronized movement enhanced understanding of the rhythmic structure.

Further characterization of movement-induced enhancement of beat perception found that this effect is only true of auditory stimuli, and in fact, movement impairs timing extraction in equivalent visual tasks (Iordanescu et al., 2013). This finding implies that synchronized movement may somehow bear a particularly special connection to our interpretation of sound. Could the fun of dancing arise from its ability to increase our sensitivity to rhythmic patterns? That may be what the research suggests. From soon after birth, humans have an innate desire for information and, quickly thereafter, an insatiable need to categorize (Perlovsky, 2010). This ability and, in fact, craving to classify our world has been referred to as the “knowledge instinct,” and this may explain why we so readily appreciate a more intensified and obvious pattern in our aural environment.

All of the rhetorical questions, personal musings, and references to psychological theory in this post are a testament to the real conclusion to this discussion: nobody actually knows why we like dancing so much. Indirect experiments and conveniently intuitive theories of selective pressure can only provide so much insight into the issue; so while science works on solving this highly urgent question, just enjoy the music and keep on dancing.

Dancing (if you can call it that) in Homo sapiens.

 

-Max Farina

 

References:

Iordanescu L, Grabowecky M, Suzuki S (2013) Action enhances auditory but not visual temporal sensitivity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 20: 108-114.

Levitin DJ, Tirovolas AK (2009) Current advances in the cognitive neuroscience of music. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1156: 211-231.

Perlovsky L (2010) Musical emotions: functions, origins, evolution. Physics of Life Reviews 7: 2-27.

Su YH, Pöppel E (2012) Body movement enhances the extraction of temporal structures in auditory sequences. Psychological Research 76: 373-382.

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Musée du Parfum

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 4 comments

Last week we visited Musée de la Parfumerie Fragonard, a museum created by the Fragonard Perfumery to expose visitors to their perfumes as well as the perfume-making process. As soon as we stepped into the museum we were met with a light flowery scent that filled the entire room. Being led through the museum by our bubbly and efficient tour guide, we learned about how scents are extracted from the oils of flowers, the ways in which these scents are diluted and packaged, and of course where on the body to wear perfume (your wrists and neck if anyone is wondering). At the end of our tour we were able to test a number of fragrances that were available for purchase. I remember instantly loving some of these scents (Etoile in particular, which means star in French) and also having quite a negative reaction to others.

I wondered what parts of my brain process odors as pleasant or unpleasant and if sensory stimuli other than scents can affect the perception of an odor. In a study done by Katata et al. (2009), adult human subjects, 27 females and 3 males, ranging from 18-35 years old were exposed to one of two different chemicals odors while their brains were being studied using an fMRI scanner. An fMRI scanner detects active areas of the brain through identifying an increase in blood flow. The subjects were told to pay close attention to the scent and after the scan they were told to rate the odor based on pleasantness. About half of the subjects were exposed to each odor and the odor was rated on a scale of -3 (strongly unpleasant) to +3 (strongly pleasant). The group found that those subjects which rated the odor as unpleasant had increased brain activation in their lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lateral OFC) and those who rated the odor as pleasant had increased brain activation in their anterior cingulate gyrus. The lateral OFC has been previously shown as one of the brain areas responsible for processing negative aspects of odor and facial appearance; this study provides further support for this claim. The cingulate gyrus has been shown to be involved in olfactory processing when attention to features of odors is needed; this study implies that perhaps the anterior, the front most part, of the cingulate gyrus is involved in specifically processing pleasant stimuli (possibly because we need to pay attention to the features of the odor in order to determine that it is pleasant). This study suggests that perhaps when I smelled a perfume that I considered pleasant, my anterior cingulate gyrus was activated, and when I smelled a perfume that I considered rather unpleasant (which was probably followed by a not-so discreet grimace) perhaps my lateral orbitofrontal cortex was activated. The findings of this study suggest that the activation of these brain areas are involved in olfactory perception, however the subjects were predominantly female and only 30 subjects were used, so these finding may not be universally applicable (although the study does provide further insight into the regions of the brain that may play a role in processing the pleasantness of odors).

Musée de la Parfumerie Fragonard (labeled as A)

As I stated before, upon leaving the museum, I also wondered if any other sensory input could affect an individual’s perception of smell (which could possibly be used as a tactic to sell perfumes). In a study done by Seo and Hummel (2010), the affects of auditory stimuli on olfactory perception were tested. Twenty-six human subjects (20 female and 6 male) between the ages of 20 and 40 were exposed to 1 of 4 auditory cues for five seconds and four seconds after the onset were presented with an odor. The auditory cues consisted of two pleasant sounds, baby laughing and jazz drum, and two unpleasant stimuli, a baby crying and a baby screaming. After auditory cue and odor exposure, the subject was told to rate the odor on a scale of 0 (extremely unpleasant) to 10 (extremely pleasant). The group found that subjects rated the odor as being more pleasant while listening to the “pleasant” auditory stimuli and less pleasant while listening to the “unpleasant” stimuli. This perhaps suggests that auditory cues can influence the way in which individuals perceive an odor. Like the first study, this study uses mostly female subjects which presents complications associated with the auditory cues used. The group chose auditory stimuli related to infant cries and laughing. These stimuli could have evoked a maternal behavior in women, putting the subjects in either a rewarding or fear-inducing state (which could lead them to rate odors as pleasant or unpleasant). Thus, these auditory cues may not be applicable to all individuals as “pleasant” and “unpleasant.” This study, however, does suggest that auditory cues in general may play a role in influencing whether individuals consider an odor pleasant or unpleasant. It would be interesting to see if by playing pleasant auditory stimuli, there is more activation in the anterior cingulate gyrus upon smelling an odor. Conversely, it would also be interesting to explore if by playing an unpleasant auditory cue, there is more activation on the lateral OFC upon smelling the same odor. It may be possible to alter the way that an individual perceives an odor by simultaneously presenting that individual with an auditory cue. Maybe perfume stores should start playing jazz drum recordings in the background while their customers shop. I wish I had remembered if the Musée de la Parfumerie Fragonard played music while having us test their scents. Judging by the amount of perfume one of my friends bought (shout out to Emily), perhaps they were one step ahead of all of us.

– Ankita Gumaste

Works Cited

Katata K, Sakai N, Doi K, Kawamitsu H, Fuji M, Sugimura K, Nibu K (2009) Functional MRI of regional brain responses to ‘pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ odors. Acta oto-laryngologica 129: 85-90.

Seo HS and Hummel T (2011) Auditory-olfactory integration: congruent or pleasant sounds amplify odor pleasantness. Chem. Senses 36: 301-309.

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Confessions of a Coffee Addict

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 2 comments

With the addition of new coffee vendors on Emory’s campus over the past three years, combined with the excellent surrounding breakfast hotspots, I have become one to regularly appreciate and truly enjoy a hot cup of coffee. Whether the coffee be from Starbucks, Rise-n-Dine or Dunkin Donuts, I am victim to daily expenditure at these vendors for my morning (and sometimes evening) caffeine fix. Now that my time in Paris is approaching its end, I will readily admit that I had routed the closest Starbucks locations to my dorm and to the building where we take classes (before my departure from New York). I saved those directions in my phone; anticipating daily visits to this familiar coffee shop.

My pre-departure routing of Starbucks to the Accent center (where we take classes)

When I realized that it would be a daily struggle to somehow go to Starbucks before my early morning class (thanks to the reliability of the French subway system), I decided to give the conveniently located French coffee (on campus) a chance. My first experience with French café was at the Cite Universitaire cafeteria, as I was presented with a Dixie-cup size equivalent cup of black coffee. No sugar, no milk…but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t realize how strong the coffee would be and I can safely say that 3 cups of the café coffee was overkill…

All throughout Paris, I have noticed that the café comes in one size: about a quarter of the size of the regular coffee we get back in America. The coffee is quite deceiving, as the small cup actually keeps me energized despite its miniscule volume. I quickly realized that coffee in itself is a part of French culture, as many cafes throughout the city orient their tables and chairs to face the streets—this way, people can enjoy a cup of coffee and “people watch”. I rarely see Parisians eating lavish breakfasts (doesn’t stop me though…); rather, they enjoy a simple black coffee with the morning paper. French culture, to me, seems to emphasize simplicity and reservation. A cup of coffee, then, serves as a means to collect your thoughts and appreciate the beauty of France while simultaneously obtaining a needed jolt of energy. A cup of coffee transcends the traditional role of a breakfast drink, as “une tasse de café” is readily available (and encouraged) at any time of day.

French breakfast at a local restaurant (notice the tiny coffee...)

One of the classes we are taking here is related to body enhancement and the new, innovative technologies that can alter normal human function. During class one day, Dr. Crutcher shared with us some research that suggested the caffeine fix from our morning cups of coffee actually yields some physiological effects besides just enhanced alertness. In the past, researchers found that caffeine can increase anxiety in the short run, but increased doses of caffeine over time (via more coffee, for example) can lead to a diminished effect because of the build up of tolerance (Rogers et al., 2010). Recent research suggests that caffeine, readily found in coffee, may modify the way the different brain areas react to social threats (Smith et al., 2012). What are the neurological implications of this? Smith et al. (2012) set out to determine if there really was a relationship between anxiety, threatening signals, caffeine and the brain.

How did they do this study? After obtaining a group of subjects, the researchers gave the participants in this study received a fixed amount of either caffeine or placebo in two different sessions. During each session, the participants were placed in an MRI machine that would give researchers an fMRI scan (functional magnetic resonance image). An fMRI is basically a way to measure the changes in blood flow in the brain. Changes in blood flow in the brain represent changes in activity and activation in the different areas of the brain. (For example, if an area of the brain is in use, then there is increased blood flow in that area.) While in the MRI machine, participants were asked to perform an “emotional face processing task” (EFPT). This task involved participants being presented with different faces, each representing different emotions, and they had to match the presented face to a target face at the top of the screen. (Similar to a matching game!) After seeing the faces and doing the matching task, the participants would rate their anxiety and mental alertness (compared to before the task) via a questionnaire. Researchers also measured their blood pressure (before and 2 hours after the treatment of either the placebo or caffeine) (Smith et al., 2012).

Turns out that when the participants who were administered caffeine saw the threatening faces, that is the angry and fearful faces during the EFPT, there was increased activation of a brain area called the “midbrain periaqueductal gray area” and decreased activation in another area called the “medial prefrontal cortex” compared to the placebo group (Smith et al., 2012). Participants who received the caffeine dosage had higher self-rated anxiety on the questionnaires and their diastolic blood pressures were higher also! However, the exact neural mechanisms and implications of how these areas actually process threatening images and scenarios are still unknown (Smith et al., 2012). So what was the point of this study then? Smith et al. (2012) suggest that these brain areas, that showed changes in activity, are actually related to social threat processing and anxiety in humans. Because there were actual changes in blood flow in these areas in response to threatening or anxiety-inducing faces, only in the light of a caffeine dosage, it seems to be that caffeine is modifying the patterns of activation in the brain. A daily dose of caffeine, in the form of coffee for most of us, then, can possibly affect the way we perceive threats and can possibly affect how anxious we are compared to when we do not consume caffeine.

Yum

As with almost everything that seems too good to be true, in this case a delicious cup of French coffee, this study seems to suggest that loading up on multiple cups of coffee a day might not be the best idea. But, I don’t really plan on giving up my black Americano any time soon (especially since I’m leaving France soon and am already having French coffee withdrawal).

-Noareen Ahmed

References:

Rogers, P, Hohoff C, Heatherley S  (2010) Association of the anxiogenic and alerting effects of caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 polymorphisms and habitual level of caffeine consumption. Neuropsychopharmacology 35: 1973–83.

Smith J, Lawrence D, Diukova A, Wise R, Rogers P (2012) Storm in a coffee cup: caffeine modifies brain activation to social signals of threat. Scan 7: 831-840

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You’re in Paris, what can you be worried about?

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 1 comment

Don't get too distracted by the beauty of the Eiffel Tower at night, you may lose something important!

For all of the wonderful and enjoyable aspects of Paris, there is a slight hint of danger that goes along with being a tourist in a foreign city. Whether it’s defending your traveling minion from potential pickpocketers (Sam,) warding off aggressive wine salesmen at the Eiffel Tower (Sehe,) and making friends with RER train guards to protect you from the party animals at Châtelet (Noareen, Ankita, and Max,) being an American (and sticking out like a sore thumb) in Paris can be somewhat stressful in these kinds of situations. As a group, we were collectively prepared for this before we came on the trip. Kris, our protective guide, gave us plenty of warnings about the pickpocketers before we finished the spring semester this last year at Emory. Needless to say, we all have padlocks on our backpacks when we go anywhere. We always travel with buddies, and frequently with the entire crew. Most importantly, we have all picked up the ability to walk past the guys selling trinkets on the street without saying a word or even looking in their general direction. While this behavior is very different from the way people treat one another on Emory’s campus, it is definitely necessary for navigating the streets of Paris safely.

Traveling as a group makes for great pictures

Just in this last weekend, we probably experienced some of the most anxiety inducing situations of the entire trip. Let me preface this story by saying we are perfectly fine and laugh about this experience already. This Friday, the summer solstice, was the annual Fête de la Musique where musicians, old and young, come out onto the streets and play their violins, bagpipes, guitars, electronic techno equipment, and bell-piano hybrids that need to be driven around on trucks. All of Paris spends the night celebrating the musical festival in the streets and enjoying the good life. However, with all of this fun, there are some people who take to the partying aspect more than others. We quickly learned to give these patrons a wide berth, and kept an even closer eye on each other as a group. While trying to get back home after the festival, some of us squeezed each others hands as we ran away from dangerous situations until we got to the safety of the Cité Universitaire. Good thing we decided to wear comfortable shoes that night!

A map of Place de la Bastille, one of the most exciting areas during Fête de la Musique

So, being in Paris has been a great experience, but it’s exposed me to different kinds of stresses than what I’m used to at Emory. Of course, we all stay up late doing research for Dr. Crutcher’s class, and finishing our writing assignments for Dr. Frenzel. This “stressful” aspect of taking classes is nothing new. On the other hand, avoiding confrontation while trying to remember our way around the city and communicating with strangers that don’t speak English is a completely new kind of stress. The effects of stress on the brain has been a topic of many research studies trying to understand the stress mechanisms. In the body, stress causes the release of molecules called glucocorticoids from the adrenal glands above the kidneys (Webster and Sternberg, 2004). These molecules can travel through the blood and affect the brain (Webster and Sternberg, 2004). Glucocorticoids have been shown to be helpful when memories become stored in the brain, but cause problems when people are trying to recall information in their memory (Soravia et al., 2009). These molecules, in cortisone form, have been used to treat people with disorders related to frightening memories, such as PTSD and phobias (Soravia et al., 2009). In previous studies, the introduction of cortisol when subjects were introduced to situations related to their fearful memories reduced the fearful symptoms they had previously displayed when being exposed to the scary stimulus (Soravia et al., 2006).

The structure of cortisone.

In a recent study by Soravia and associates in 2009, the researchers were looking at the effects of cortisone (glucocorticoid) administration in normal people to see if there was reduced fear in socially frightening situations, just like how they had seen fear symptom reduction in people with fear disorders (Soravia et al., 2009). The potential fear inducing social situation the subjects were tested in was comprised of the subjects explaining why someone should hire them, and then attempting an unprepared mental arithmetic task (Soravia et al., 2009). Cortisone administration was found to have no effect on fear symptom reduction in this group of healthy individuals tested in this study (Soravia et al., 2009). The symptoms measured were subjective ratings of anxiety (feelings of nervousness and worry,) physical discomfort, and avoidance behavior of the interaction (Soravia et al., 2009). With increased amounts of cortisone administration, measured through saliva samples, the data in this study indicated no significant reduction in the amount of subjective fear symptoms the participants experienced (Soravia et al., 2009).

These data seem to suggest that the potential fear reducing properties of glucocorticoids in people with pathological fears do not apply to normal people (Soravia et al., 2009). In past studies, the medial temporal lobe (MTL), a part located on the side of the brain, has been shown to be very important in memory retrieval (Soravia et al., 2009). In social phobic subjects as compared to subjects without fear of social situations, the MTL was reported to activate when the people were in public speaking scenarios and was activation was prevented with drug administration (Soravia et al., 2009). Maybe patients with social phobias have more memory of fear related to these situations, or maybe they are more prone to the effects of the administered glucocorticoids (Soravia et al., 2009). Based on the data gathered in this study, it seems that this possible treatment effect can only be applied to people with fear memories that are so deeply rooted that they feel distressed when they are retrieving and recalling the troublesome memories (Soravia et al., 2009).

While the time we have spent in Paris has been full of fun adventures and plenty of acquired academic knowledge and street smarts, it has not been without some situational stress. The feeling of a language barrier and a different culture may have had an effect on all of us, but may only be partially alleviated by cortisone administration if we had a pathological fear of these scenarios, as the Soravia study seems to suggest (Soravia et al., 2009). While I can say that I have not acquired a pathological fear of a new culture, or even early morning party animals, I have definitely learned a few tactics that are essential to survival of the tourist lifestyle. Just a word to the wise if you plan on traveling to Paris anytime soon, make sure you do your homework on the potential perils of your voyage. The pickpocketers know you’re coming, and may literally steal your IPad out of your hands while you’re taking video of the Eiffel Tower. You want to also know how to reject aggressive salesmen or people interested in you at a bar. The more you know, the better prepared you are to deal with these kind of potential situations that can put a damper on your trip. Take an opportunity beforehand to put your mind at ease, and enjoy the different atmosphere a new city has to offer safely.

Do yourself a favor and invest in some locks!

~ Emily Aidan Berthiaume

Works Cited

Soravia L, Heinrichs M, Aerni A, Maroni C, Schelling G, Ehlert U, Roozendaal B, de Quervain D (2006) Glucocorticoids reduce phobic fear in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States of America 103:5585-5590.

Soravia L, de Quervain D, Heinrichs M (2009) Glucocorticoids do not reduce subjective fear in healthy subjects to social stress. Biological Psychology.

Webster J and Sternberg E (2004) Role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, glucocorticoids and glucocorticoid receptors in toxic sequelae of exposure to bacterial and viral products. Journal of Endocrinology 181:207-221.

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Well that was embarrassing….

Posted on June 25, 2013 by | 1 comment

The Palais de la Decouverte is a science museum located at the Grand Palais and it was at this very spot I was put to shame. Our first destination was the insect exhibit which was located on the first floor. There, we saw glass casings full of ants, termites, and spiders and tons of information about their livelihood. Near the end of the insect exhibit, there was an apparatus with holes large enough to fit a hand. Curiosity got the best of me and I stuck my right hand through. As I was moving my arm farther into the hole, about elbow deep, something suddenly grabbed my hand and started shaking me. I shrieked… and as I jerked my body back, the straps of my computer bag snapped and fell to the floor. Before I knew what was going on, I heard a snicker. Out pops this 12-year-old French girl who points and laughs at me and then runs off. I didn’t know that on the opposite side of the apparatus was another hole where others could insert their hands. The little punk had bested me. I slowly grabbed my bag and walked away with my head down in shame.

Have you ever wondered why you feel embarrassed? It is defined as feeling awkward, self-conscious, or ashamed and it is a state of intense discomfort from a socially unacceptable act. In my situation, I should not have been so easily frightened by a 12-year-old girl. My broken bag is now strewn over my chair and acts as a constant reminder. Embarrassing situations occur frequently to me, or at least I feel more susceptible than the average person. I’m sure there was some traumatizing childhood moment, where I was so utterly embarrassed that now even the little voice cracks seems to embarrass me. Or maybe it’s from an enlarged right pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC). Probably a bit of both, but let’s focus on the later.

In a research study in 2012, Sturm et al. obtained 27 patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), a neurodegenerative disease that targets the pACC region and is known to decrease self-conscious reactivity. Do not confuse self-consciousness and self-conscious behavior, one being self-awareness and the latter social discomfort which this study is based on. The purpose of the experiment was to find evidence supporting the pACC region playing a role in self-conscious activity. Sturm et al. tested the hypothesis by comparing the bvFTD patients to 33 healthy patients through a self-conscious reactivity test and an MRI scan(Sturm et al., 2013).The patients were instructed to put on headphones and sing-along to “My Girl” by the Temptations without knowing they were being recorded. They were then hooked up to a machine, which measured self-conscious reactivity and shown a video of themselves singing without the music in the background. The machine specifically measured heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, etc., and a score was calculated from the data to determine self-conscious reactivity. Patients were also shown a sad clip to measure baseline activity. The data showed healthy patients scoring a higher self-conscious reactivity score than the bvFtD patients which supported the hypothesis. An MRI scan revealed a higher volume of the right pACC region correlating with a higher self-conscious reactivity score.

The study suggests if I had a larger right pACC region, I would be more susceptible to embarrassment every time I trip in public, or when someone posts an ugly picture of me online. So now that we have located a possible section of the brain that deals with self-consciousness, I am going to have mine removed to avoid feeling any embarrassing emotions in the future. No just kidding. There’s not an overwhelming amount of data associating pACC to self-conscious behavior and the pACC is involved in many brain processes. However, the study provides a deeper understanding of self-conscious behavior.

~James Eun

Bibliography

Sturm VE, Sollberger M, Seeley WW, Rankin KP, Ascher EA, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Levenson RW (2013) Role of right pregenual anterior cingulate cortex in self-conscious emotional reactivity. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 8:468-474.

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Confession of a Paris rookie: I want to combine jazz & rap — jazzap!

Posted on June 19, 2013 by | 8 comments

Dear Paris,

You are confusing. I can’t quite figure you out, especially your music taste. While I really appreciate all the wonderful musicians you have hired to serenade me in different locations, your musicians are all over the place. (no pun intended) Despite my confusion, I don’t mind it at all. I enjoy the soulful reggae of Ben L’oncle’s Sympathique, the vibrant enthusiasm of Zaz’s Je veux, and the electric simplicity of Stromae’s Alor on danse.   (click on the title of the songs for a listen 🙂 )

There are some data suggesting that the shape of one’s skull influences music preference due to the differing resonant properties of the person’s skull (Suwangbutra et al, 2013). I may never know why I prefer classical over screamo or why you have such diverse preference. I guess you’re that type who listens to everything.

parc flor de paris, place full of funk and jazz.

However, it would be a sin not to mention the funky side of you. For eight consecutive weekends in the beautiful parc floral, the Paris jazz festival pleases both jazz aficionados and the rookies (like me) to enjoy the diversity and history of jazz. This past Saturday, Max, Dr.Frenzel and I were able to swing by and embrace its dynamic colors. Under the warm embracing sun, we had a mini picnic on the lawn while listening to Guillaume perret & the electric epic and Céline Bonacina Trio. Unlike any other genre, jazz offers the freedom in which the musicians can deviate from the written sheet music. There is some organization and planning, such as the chord progression or the specific pattern of rhythms that loosely outline the performance, but there’s always that unknown factor. The unpredictable part (like the spontaneous saxophone solos or that mystery flavor of Airheads you’re really curious about) is a challenging yet an exciting process for both the musician and the audience.

music + beautiful weather + picnic food + good people = THE life

So what happens if you put bunch of jazz musicians in a brain scanner? Charles Limb, a doctor & a musician at Johns Hopkins and Adam Braun, the chief of the language section in the National Institute of Health, did exactly that. They wanted to find out the exact brain recipe of this musical improvisation, which they viewed as a form of spontaneous creative behavior (Limb, 2008). They hypothesized that the brain was using ordinary mental processes in a new funky combination, similar to how ordinary food items can be combined to create a bizarre flavor, such as asparagus and banana. To summarize, they wanted to see how the brain acted under well rehearsed process vs spontaneous process.

Six full-time male professional musicians, all proficient in jazz piano, participated in the study. Those six musicians all went through four musical conditions while under an fMRI scan (measures brain activity by looking at blood oxygen level at various regions. The activity and the blood oxygen level are positively correlated). The four conditions were….

  1. ScaleCtrl condition: playing rehearsed scale (set of 8 notes)
  2. ScaleImprov condition: improvising within the same notes as ScaleCtrl of the scale but only changing the order of the notes
  3.  JazzCtrl condition: playing rehearsed jazz sheet music
  4.  JazzImprov condition: improvising within the same chord progression of the JazzCtrl, changing the order and the rhythm of the notes.

The scale and the jazz condition differ in complexity. ScaleImprov condition, which has one factor to manipulate, is much easier than JazzImprov condition, which has two factors to manipulate. These four conditions not only reveal the different brain activity between learned processes and improvised processes but also illustrate how the varying levels of improvisation would influence brain activity.

jazzy musician in her vibrant orange outfit. I wonder what her brain is doing..

Compared to the controls, the fMRI images showed similar pattern of activation for both improv conditions. All six musicians, under the improv conditions, shared these four brain activities..

  1. widespread deactivation in DLPFC dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex (DLPFC brain area involved in many cognitive functions like planning, organization, and inhibition)
  2. increased MPFC (medial prefrontal cortex) 
  3. increased sensorimotor activity
  4. gradually decreasing limbic activity (area involved in emotions and memory). 

To further summarize, the musicians were thinking less, planning less, feeling less and were just playing the music. 

This research is one of the first neuroscience studies looking at the neural mechanism of creativity in jazz, and it has already inspired studying another type of improvisation – free style rapping. In addition to the notes and the rhythm, the rappers also have to consider what words to say within a short frame of time, adding another layer of complexity. The overall data has yielded very similar results (Liu, 2012). Jazz musicians and rappers aren’t so different!

what if they can sax it up with some jazzy improv?

What if Armstrong could freestyle rap?

 

Initially I viewed creativity as an identity that only existed in small fleeting moments, but now it has redefined itself as another beautiful brain puzzle that researchers have solved. I am still in love with the “mystery flavor” of jazz, but I can’t wait for that one day where I get to see the fMRI scans of Kanye West and Jay-Z doing jazzap, a delightful fusion of rap and jazz. Genre of the summer? I think so.

– Sehe Han

References

Limb CJ, Braun AR. (2008). Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: an fMRI study of jazz improvisation. PloS one 3: 1 – 9 

Liu S, Chow HM, Xu Y, Erkkinen MG, Swett KE, Eagle MW, Rizik-Baer DA, Braun AR (2012) Neural correlates of lyrical improvisation: an fMRI study of freestyle rap. Scientific reports 2: 834

Suwangbutra J, Tobias R, Gordon MS. (2013) Music of the body: An investigation of skull resonances and its influences on musical preferences. Proceedings of meetings on acoustics 19: 1 -5

Image references (from Creative Commons)

http://liquorandkarate.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/KANYE_WEST_JAY_Z.jpg

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You just cross the rivers and turn right!

Posted on June 19, 2013 by | 5 comments

Yesterday was our TA, Kris’ 25th birthday, and to celebrate we decided to go out to dinner.  He made reservations at Galerie 88, at 88 Quai de l’Hôtel de ville, Paris.  Like usual, I looked up how to get there and found the route below:

Directions from Cite Universitaire to Galerie 88

I thought that the easiest way was to get off the RER, cross both rivers, and turn right. Turns out that our TA ended up coming with us and he looked up directions as well, but in a different way than I did.  Instead of just using landmarks he looked up each street name and which direction to turn on them, which just seems way too complicated and confusing for me.  I told him that people in Rhode Island always give directions with landmarks since everyone probably knows what you are referring to.   It was then I learned that it was not just because of my small state that I focus on landmarks, but because I am a woman. 

Map we both looked at, he memorized the streets, I just crossed the rivers and turned right

I honestly did not believe them but sure enough when I got home and looked it up, I found a lot of information on how men typically use streets and cardinal directions and women use landmarks and lefts and rights (James MD Jr., 1998).  One particular study I read investigated age and gender differences in different orientation strategies.

Lui et al. used an online battery, or a series of 6 tests, to test for different orientation strategies.  There was the Landmark Recognition test which assessed the ability to recognize landmarks encountered during navigation; the Left/Right Orientation test which assessed the ability to learn a route by following left/right body turns without any landmarks; the Path Reversal test which assessed the ability to recognized the ability to go back to starting point without landmarks; the Heading Orientation test which  evaluated the ability of the individual to perform a route based on left/right turns associated with selective landmarks; and finally the last two, Cognitive Map Formation and the Cognitive Map Use test, which assessed the ability of individuals to form and make use of mental representation of the environment. 634 volunteers participated in the testing and were scored on the number of correct responses during each individual test.  Men were able to form and make use of cognitive maps better than women, so they had a better mental representation of the environment (Liu et al., 2011).  Men performing better spatially made sense to me since I remember learning in my NBB 302 class that men generally have a slightly larger parietal cortex, relating to improved performance on spatial tasks.  Liu et al. also made a new observation that men performed better in the path reversal test.  They explained how it is novel, but it is consistent with the knowledge that men process distance/metric information better than women during navigation (Liu et al., 2011).

I was surprised that men and women performed equally on the Landmark Recognition test.  The lack of variation between the genders could have been due to the fact that it was a virtual navigation, and the participants never actively navigated.  Liu et al. did recognize that active and passive learning of spatial environments could lead to different performance data and that further studies could be performed.

Overall I understood how men essentially have a spatial map in their head when following directions which probably accounts for their sense of direction.  One thing I know for sure is I did not have to look at the map again once we started off for the restaurant, and Kris stopped twice.   I’m sticking with using landmarks…

Cheers to your birthday Kris!

~Sarah Harrington

James MD Jr. E-LC, Rebecca AS, Rhonda M (1998) Spatial Ability, Navigation Strategy, and Geographic Knowledge Among Men and Women. Evolution & Human Behavior 19:89-98.

Liu I, Levy RM, Barton JJ, Iaria G (2011) Age and gender differences in various topographical orientation strategies. Brain research 1410:112-119.

 

 

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