Author: Rachel Lebovic

On Saturday, June 11^th, Cynthia, Lauren, Sam, and I took a day trip to Reims, the unofficial capital of the Champagne wine-growing region. We left first thing in the morning for the 45-minute high-speed train ride out through the countryside to make the most of our day away. We started off getting breakfast at a local café on what appeared to be the main street of the city. After, we had our first champagne tasting. Personally, I do not like to drink but was excited to take a sip of each for the experience of tasting France’s finest! After this tasting, we walked around the city and grabbed lunch before our second tasting. While walking, we saw Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Reims and Basilique Saint-Remi. Both beautiful. Our last stop of the day was the Pommery house where we toured the cellars and learned about how champagne is made and stored.

At our second tasting, the staff was asking us to pay close attention to the taste and flavors. We also smelt every champagne before testing. We learned that the proper way to drink champagne is to inhale through your nose while taking a small sip to get the most of the flavors. This trip was right after we reviewed the article on covid and olfaction, so it made me think about the connection between olfaction and taste.

In the article we discussed in class, we learned that covid-19 could cause anosmia, loss of sense of smell, due to damage to sustentacular cells (Bryche et al., 2020). However, studies have shown that in addition to losing the sense of smell, people also lose their ability to taste (Parma et al., 2020). While many individuals regain their ability to smell and taste after having covid, some have these abilities return in an unpleasant way, by developing parosmia. Parosmia is a type of olfactory dysfunction that causes distorted smell and taste. Patients with parosmia will describe food as tasting/smelling like sewage and other unpleasant descriptors (Walker et al., 2022). I found this disorder fascinating to learn about since damage to olfactory cells causes abnormalities in taste, illustrating that these two sensory systems are connected.

Something I hope to do in my career as a scientist, and hopefully physician, is to use a big picture approach. To understand that so many systems are connected and need to be explored together to be fully understood. I felt that I did just that in this experience.

References:

Bryche, B., St Albin, A., Murri, S., Lacôte, S., Pulido, C., Ar Gouilh, M., Lesellier, S., Servat, A., Wasniewski, M., Picard-Meyer, E., Monchatre-Leroy, E., Volmer, R., Rampin, O., Le Goffic, R., Marianneau, P., & Meunier, N. (2020). Massive transient damage of the olfactory epithelium associated with infection of sustentacular cells by SARS-CoV-2 in golden Syrian hamsters. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 89(July), 579–586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.06.032

Parma, V., Ohla, K., Veldhuizen, M. G., Niv, M. Y., Kelly, C. E., Bakke, A. J., Cooper, K. W., Bouysset, C., Pirastu, N., Dibattista, M., Kaur, R., Liuzza, M. T., Pepino, M. Y., Schöpf, V., Pereda-Loth, V., Olsson, S. B., Gerkin, R. C., Rohlfs Domínguez, P., Albayay, J., … Restrepo, D. (2020). More than smell – COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis. Chemical Senses, 45(7), 609–622. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaa041

Walker, A., Kelly, C., Pottinger, G., & Hopkins, C. (2022). Parosmia-a common consequence of covid-19. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 377, e069860. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-069860

On Wednesday, June 1^st, a group of students took advantage of having no major assignments due the next day and spent the evening at the Eiffel Tower. All walking towards the tower from different directions due to the locations of our various metro stops, we met under the center of the tower which we quickly learned was not the ideal location. We relocated to the lawn where we found an open area of grass to have our picnic. I enjoyed my caramel crepe while others were feasting on bread and cheese. Little did we know that we had the best photographer among us (Jacob) who gave us a little spontaneous photoshoot gifting us the ability to remember all the fun we had that night.

On our first day in Paris we did a boat tour as a class and when we passed the Eiffel tower our guide shared some interesting history about it. The tower’s construction was complete in 1889 in time for the World’s Fair and was not meant to be a permanent structure. When it was first built, Parisians were quite critical of the tower claiming that it was an eyesore and did not fit in with the city. However, despite this opinion of the locals, the Eiffel Tower has become one of the most famous landmarks and is the staple of the city.

This got me thinking about the neuroscience behind the perception of beauty. In previous classes, I have learned about perception of beauty in faces/people and the brain regions involved in that but did not know much about how this applied to objects such as buildings or art. In searching the literature, I was introduced to the field of neuroaesthetics (Iigaya et al., 2020). Neuroaesthetics explores the neural basis for judging art, of which architecture and monuments fall under. Early studies found that the brain regions involved in viewing pleasant aesthetics were also involved in reward pathways. This suggests that looking at an aesthetically pleasing work of art elicits a similar response to other rewarding stimuli. They also explained that assigning aesthetic value is done by breaking a stimulus down into elementary features to be processed. This is a concept I am familiar with from NBB 301 when we discussed sensory processing.

In my very unprofessional opinion, I thought the Eiffel Tower was pretty when it was lit up, but during the day it was more exciting due to its significance rather than its beauty.

Reference:

Iigaya, K., O’Doherty, J. P., & Starr, G. G. (2020). Progress and Promise in Neuroaesthetics. Neuron, 108(4), 594–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.10.022

On Saturday, May 21^st, Lauren, Sam, and I visited Sacré-Cœur Basilica, known in English as Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Basilica is located in the 18^th district, an easy walk from our apartments. We walked over stopping for some delicious ice cream along the way. When we got to the Basilica, I did not realize it was located on the summit of the butte Montmartre, which is the highest point in the city. While this created a very picturesque scene, it also meant a lot of stairs to get up. Taking a couple of breaks along the way, we made our way to the top and were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the city. We then entered the Basilica to take in its beauty and learn about its history.

The Basilica’s construction was complete in 1914 and it was consecrated in 1919. It is a Roman Catholic church that is considered both a political and cultural monument. On the inside, the walls and ceiling are covered in paintings and stained glass windows. There are also exhibits highlighting key figures in their history. Although I am Jewish and did not recognize many of the figures or understand their traditions, I could appreciate the beauty and significance of the Basilica to those who connect with it.

When thinking about how to connect this visit with class content, I was curious if there was literature on the neuroscience of religion. I found a review examining religion, spirituality, and their neurobiological correlates (Rim et al., 2019). The review pulled from studies where individuals with different opinions on the importance of religion/spirituality and different levels of engagement in religious/spiritual behaviors were studied using EEG, fMRI, and sMRI to explore neural correlates.

One study in the review that stood out to me was where fMRIs were done while praying (Schjødt et al., 2008). They found that there was increased activation in the caudate nucleus during religious recitals compared to secular recitals. With this finding, the researchers were able to support their hypothesis that repetitive engagement in religious prayer can stimulate the dopaminergic reward pathway. As someone who grew up in a religious environment but never felt spiritually connected, I found this very interesting and it helped me understand why others can feel so connected to religion and prayer while I might not.

Overall, I enjoyed the beauty of the Basilica both inside and out and found it fascinating to explore the neuroscience of religion.

Reference

Rim, J. I., Ojeda, J. C., Svob, C., Kayser, J., Drews, E., Kim, Y., Tenke, C. E., Skipper, J., & Weissman, M. M. (2019). Current Understanding of Religion, Spirituality, and Their Neurobiological Correlates. Harvard review of psychiatry, 27(5), 303–316. https://doi.org/10.1097/HRP.0000000000000232\

Schjødt, U., Stødkilde-Jørgensen, H., Geertz, A. W., & Roepstorff, A. (2008). Rewarding prayers. Neuroscience Letters, 443(3), 165–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2008.07.068