Olfaction scaffolds the developing human from neonate to adolescent and beyond

The impact of the olfactory sense is regularly apparent across development. The foetus is bathed in amniotic fluid that conveys the mother’s chemical ecology. Transnatal olfactory continuity between the odours of amniotic fluid and milk assists in the transition to nursing. At the same time, odours emanating from the mammary areas provoke appetitive responses in newborns. Odours experienced from the mother’s diet during breastfeeding, and from practices such as pre-mastication, may assist in the dietary transition at weaning. In parallel, infants are attracted to and recognise their mother’s odours; later, children are able to recognise other kin and peers based on their odours. Familiar odours, such as those of the mother, regulate the child’s emotions, and scaffold perception and learning through non-olfactory senses. During adolescence, individuals become more sensitive to some bodily odours, while the timing of adolescence itself has been speculated to draw from the chemical ecology of the family unit. Odours learnt early in life and within the family niche continue to influence preferences as mate choice becomes relevant. Olfaction thus appears significant in turning on, sustaining and, in cases when mother odour is altered, disturbing adaptive reciprocity between offspring and caregiver during the multiple transitions of development between birth and adolescence

Living with Seismic Phenomena in the Mediterranean and Beyond between Antiquity and the Middle Ages

"In a Mediterranean area characterised by strong seismic activity, the earthquake that struck central Italy in 2016 caused considerable damage to the archaeological and historical heritage. This catastrophic event, as well as recent archaeological fieldwork and palaeoseimological research in the same area, led to the organisation in 2019 of the first International Conference Living with seismic phenomena in the Mediterranean from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Cascia (Italy). In 2021, a second Conference, devoted to the same topic, was held at Le Mans University (France). The articles collected in this work constitute a selection of the oral presentations or posters presented during the two Conferences. In the first two sections of the book, the reader will find contributions ranging from different ways of understanding seismic phenomena to strategies of post-disaster management, adaptation and resilience employed by societies and political authorities. From the third part onwards, palaeoseimological and archaeological data (for the most part previously unpublished) are presented on various sites in the Italian peninsula and the wider Mediterranean world and its frontiers. The final section is devoted to the emerging field of multidisciplinary studies on the specific characteristics of reconstruction and post-seismic building techniques. As a whole, using a multidisciplinary approach, the contents of the book aim to push forward knowledge on human/environment relations in the longue durée, contribute to the protection of the architectural and cultural heritage, and promote a culture of risk management in territories exposed to potential seismic activity.

Duchenne smile, emotional experience, and autonomic reactivity: A test of the facial feedback hypothesis.

This study examined the modulatory function of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles on subjective and autonomic components of emotion. Participants were asked to hold a pencil in their mouth to either facilitate or inhibit smiles and were not instructed to contract specific muscles. Five conditions-namely lips pressing, low-level non-Duchenne smiling, high-level non-Duchenne smiling, Duchenne smiling, and control-were produced while participants watched videoclips that were evocative of positive or negative affect. Participants who displayed Duchenne smiles reported more positive experience when pleasant scenes and humorous cartoons were presented. Furthermore, they tended to exhibit different patterns of autonomic arousal when viewing positive scenes. These results support the facial feedback hypothesis and suggest that facial feedback has more powerful effects when facial configurations represent valid analogs of basic emotional expressions

Inter-Brain Synchronization during Social Interaction

During social interaction, both participants are continuously active, each modifying their own actions in response to the continuously changing actions of the partner. This continuous mutual adaptation results in interactional synchrony to which both members contribute. Freely exchanging the role of imitator and model is a well-framed example of interactional synchrony resulting from a mutual behavioral negotiation. How the participants' brain activity underlies this process is currently a question that hyperscanning recordings allow us to explore. In particular, it remains largely unknown to what extent oscillatory synchronization could emerge between two brains during social interaction. To explore this issue, 18 participants paired as 9 dyads were recorded with dual-video and dual-EEG setups while they were engaged in spontaneous imitation of hand movements. We measured interactional synchrony and the turn-taking between model and imitator. We discovered by the use of nonlinear techniques that states of interactional synchrony correlate with the emergence of an interbrain synchronizing network in the alpha-mu band between the right centroparietal regions. These regions have been suggested to play a pivotal role in social interaction. Here, they acted symmetrically as key functional hubs in the interindividual brainweb. Additionally, neural synchronization became asymmetrical in the higher frequency bands possibly reflecting a top-down modulation of the roles of model and imitator in the ongoing interaction

The Secretion of Areolar (Montgomery's) Glands from Lactating Women Elicits Selective, Unconditional Responses in Neonates

BACKGROUND:The communicative meaning of human areolae for newborn infants was examined here in directly exposing 3-day old neonates to the secretion from the areolar glands of Montgomery donated by non related, non familiar lactating women. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:The effect of the areolar stimulus on the infants' behavior and autonomic nervous system was compared to that of seven reference stimuli originating either from human or non human mammalian sources, or from an arbitrarily-chosen artificial odorant. The odor of the native areolar secretion intensified more than all other stimuli the infants' inspiratory activity and appetitive oral responses. These responses appeared to develop independently from direct experience with the breast or milk. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:Areolar secretions from lactating women are especially salient to human newborns. Volatile compounds carried in these substrates are thus in a position to play a key role in establishing behavioral and physiological processes pertaining to milk transfer and production, and, hence, to survival and to the early engagement of attachment and bonding

Living with Seismic Phenomena in the Mediterranean and Beyond between Antiquity and the Middle Ages

"In a Mediterranean area characterised by strong seismic activity, the earthquake that struck central Italy in 2016 caused considerable damage to the archaeological and historical heritage. This catastrophic event, as well as recent archaeological fieldwork and palaeoseimological research in the same area, led to the organisation in 2019 of the first International Conference Living with seismic phenomena in the Mediterranean from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Cascia (Italy). In 2021, a second Conference, devoted to the same topic, was held at Le Mans University (France). The articles collected in this work constitute a selection of the oral presentations or posters presented during the two Conferences. In the first two sections of the book, the reader will find contributions ranging from different ways of understanding seismic phenomena to strategies of post-disaster management, adaptation and resilience employed by societies and political authorities. From the third part onwards, palaeoseimological and archaeological data (for the most part previously unpublished) are presented on various sites in the Italian peninsula and the wider Mediterranean world and its frontiers. The final section is devoted to the emerging field of multidisciplinary studies on the specific characteristics of reconstruction and post-seismic building techniques. As a whole, using a multidisciplinary approach, the contents of the book aim to push forward knowledge on human/environment relations in the longue durée, contribute to the protection of the architectural and cultural heritage, and promote a culture of risk management in territories exposed to potential seismic activity.

Emotional expressiveness of 5–6 month-old infants born very premature versus full-term at initial exposure to weaning foods

Facial expressions of 5–6 month-old infants born preterm and at term were compared while tasting for the first time solid foods (two fruit and two vegetable purées) given by the mother. Videotapes of facial reactions to these foods were objectively coded during the first six successive spoons of each test food using Baby FACS and subjectively rated by naïve judges. Infant temperament was also assessed by the parents using the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, infants born preterm expressed fewer negative emotions than infants born full-term. Naïve judges rated infants born preterm as displaying more liking than their full-term counterparts when tasting the novel foods. The analysis of facial expressions during the six spoonfuls of four successive meals (at 1-week intervals) suggested a familiarization effect with the frequency of negative expressions decreasing after tasting the second spoon, regardless of infant age, type of food and order of presentation. Finally, positive and negative dimensions of temperament reported by the parents were related with objective and subjective coding of affective reactions toward foods in infants born preterm or full-term. Our research indicates that premature infants are more accepting of novel foods than term infants and this could be used for supporting the development of healthy eating patterns in premature infants. Further research is needed to clarify whether reduced negativity by infants born prematurely to the exposure to novel solid foods reflects a reduction of an adaptive avoidant behaviour during the introduction of novel foods

Re-examination of Oostenbroek et al. (2016): evidence for neonatal imitation of tongue protrusion

The meaning, mechanism, and function of imitation in early infancy have been actively discussed since Meltzoff and Moore's (1977) report of facial and manual imitation by human neonates. Oostenbroek et al. (2016) claim to challenge the existence of early imitation and to counter all interpretations so far offered. Such claims, if true, would have implications for theories of social-cognitive development. Here we identify 11 flaws in Oostenbroek et al.'s experimental design that biased the results toward null effects. We requested and obtained the authors’ raw data. Contrary to the authors’ conclusions, new analyses reveal significant tongue-protrusion imitation at all four ages tested (1, 3, 6, and 9 weeks old). We explain how the authors missed this pattern and offer five recommendations for designing future experiments. Infant imitation raises fundamental issues about action representation, social learning, and brain–behavior relations. The debate about the origins and development of imitation reflects its importance to theories of developmental science

Cognitive facilitation following intentional odor exposure

This paper reviews evidence that, in addition to incidental olfactory pollutants, intentional odor delivery can impact cognitive operations both positively and negatively. Evidence for cognitive facilitation/interference is reviewed alongside four potential explanations for odor-induced effects. It is concluded that the pharmacological properties of odors can induce changes in cognition. However, these effects can be accentuated/attenuated by the shift in mood following odor exposure, expectancy of cognitive effects, and cues to behavior via the contextual association with the odor. It is proposed that greater consideration is required in the intentional utilization of odors within both industrial and private locations, since differential effects are observed for odors with positive hedonic qualities

Dysfunction of the Mesolimbic Circuit to Food Odors in Women With Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa: A fMRI Study

Brain reward dysfunction in eating disorders has been widely reported. However, whether the neural correlates of hedonic and motivational experiences related to food cues are differentially affected in anorexia nervosa of restrictive type (ANr), bulimia nervosa (BN), and healthy control (HC) participants remains unknown. Here, 39 women (14 ANr, 13 BN, and 12 HC) underwent fMRI while smelling food or non-food odors in hunger and satiety states during liking and wanting tasks. ANr and BN patients reported less desire to eat odor-cued food and odor-cued high energy-density food (EDF), respectively. ANr patients exhibited lower ventral tegmental area (VTA) activation than BN patients to food odors when rating their desire to eat, suggesting altered incentive salience attribution to food odors. Compared with HC participants, BN patients exhibited decreased activation of the caudate nucleus to food odors in the hunger state during the wanting task. Both patient groups also showed reduced activation of the anterior ventral pallidum and insula in response to high EDF odors in the hunger state during the wanting task. These findings indicate that brain activation within the food reward-regulating circuit differentiates the three groups. ANr patients further exhibited lower activation of the precuneus than other participants, suggesting a possible role of body image distortion in ANr. Our study highlights that food odors are relevant sensory probes to gain better insight into the dysfunction of the mesolimbic and striatal circuitry involved in food reward processing in patients with EDs