Sensorial experiments

As developed in the 1850s, positivism came to be understood as a philosophical belief which held that the methods of natural science offer the only viable way of thinking correctly about human affairs. Accordingly, empirical experience - processed with a self-conscious fear of subjective contamination - served as the basis of all knowledge. Facts, the products of sensory experience, and, by extrapolation, the data derived from machines and instruments built as extensions of that faculty, were first ascertained, and then classified. 

In general, quality is assessed by quantifiable traits that are more or less related to specific attributes of the product and the production process. Moreover, the assessment depends on the information delivered by the sensory organs. Information is filtered and evaluated by the brain depending on the specific information provided but also on the concept of understanding that already exists in the cerebral cortex (Singer, 2000). A mental representation of a sensory event can shape neural processes that underlie the formulation of the actual sensory experience. Thus, the subjective sensory experience is shaped by interactions between expectations and incoming sensory information. 

Bliss, J. (1980) Sensory experiences of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, 37 1343-1347. 

Walk into any herb garden for a sensory experience—the plants it contains will have been selected for their aromatic foliage and flowers. Valued for their many uses, herbs are also attractive plants, and many insects will visit their flowers. Herbs have rich associations with human history. Here are plants that have, over many centuries, helped people sleep, soothed pain, repelled insects, calmed fussy babies, and flavored foods and intoxicating drinks. Herbs are still worth growing today for their useful qualities, as well as for their beauty. 

In the following chapter, methods enabling the selection of those odorants contributing mainly to food flavors will be discussed with special emphasis on sensory experiments aimed to verify the flavor potency of the proposed key odorants. Furthermore, strategies to characterize flavor precursors in the raw materials will be described. 

Beyond the perception of the body itself, the enhanced sensory experience has called attention to the pleasures and insights that can be obtained directly from sensory experience. Light shows and modern rock music reflect some of the visual and auditory experiences produced by psychedelics. Aldous Huxley (1956) has pointed out the luminous intensity of colors found in "the antipodes of the mind," and this is mimicked by Day-Glo paints and the eerie glow of... 

I was glad to be back in the flat there at least my world was partly under control outside, the hoot of a passing taxi, the brilliant color of a dress, or the sudden move of a stranger taking me off my guard would burst torrentially into my whole sensory experience. 

The complex sensory experience known as hallucinations can, however, occur from other sources besides drugs like LSD or psilocybin, and this fact may shed some light on the nature of the hallucinatory experience, drug-induced or otherwise, and its connection to serotonin. Consider, for example, the following hypothetical scenario ... 

For thousands of years, cannabis has enjoyed historical significance as a recreational drug, a useful fiber, an oil, an edible seed, and a medicine. It has been used to aid religious practices, alter mood (psychoactive effect), stimulate creativity, treat disease, relieve anxiety and boredom, enhance sensory experience and pleasure, rebel against authority, and go along with peer influence. That is a lot of work for one plant to do. This probably explains why cannabis has always been an important cultivated crop and is currently a cornerstone of controversial debate in all sectors of U.S. and international society. 

Peckol E. L., Troemel E. R. and Bargmann C. I. (2001) Sensory experience and sensory activity regulate chemosensory receptor gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans. PNAS 98, 11032-11038. 

Enriching the Chemistry Experience for All Students Sensorial Experiments That Include Visually Challenged Students... 

This chapter highlights how the sensorial experiments we have developed for chemistry comply with these criteria. Sensorial experiments utilize multiple human senses, particularly the senses of smell,... 

The ultimate goal for the development of these sensorial experiments is for them to be useful to students with visual impairments and their instructors. All resources already discussed in this chapter may be incorporated to provide students with these challenges an opportunity to perform chemistry as independently as possible. In addition, the benefits and role of a sighted assistance are well documented (Cetera 1983 Miner et al. 2001), and these assistants too could get a different perspective about the science that studies everything we perceive through our senses. 

The sequence of sensorial experiments discussed below represents the evolution of our approaches at developing a series of experiments to fit into the first two years of undergraduate chemistry courses, general and organic. 

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