Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable and highly subjective sense, mainly because it does not easily fit into accounts of perception based on visual experience. So far,... more
Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable and highly subjective sense, mainly because it does not easily fit into accounts of perception based on visual experience. So far, philosophical questions about the objects of olfactory perception have started by considering the nature of olfactory experience. However, there is no philosophically neutral or agreed conception of olfactory experience: it all depends on what one thinks odors are. We examine the existing philosophical methodology for addressing our sense of smell: on the one hand appeals to phenomenology that focus on the experiential dimensions of odor perception and on the other approaches that look at odor sources and their material dimensions. We show that neither strategy provides enough information to account for the human sense of smell and argue that the inclusion of the missing dimension of biology, with its concern for the function (or functions) of olfaction, provides the means to develop a satisfactory and empirically informed philosophy of smell.
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Olfactory dysfunction often has severe consequences on patients’ quality of life. The most common complaint in these patients is their reduced enjoyment of food in both patients with olfactory loss and parosmia. How the different types of... more
Olfactory dysfunction often has severe consequences on patients’ quality of life. The most common complaint in these patients is their reduced enjoyment of food in both patients with olfactory loss and parosmia. How the different types of olfactory dysfunction differ in relation to food and cooking habits, sensory awareness, and food-related quality of life has not yet received much attention. By applying questionnaires on cooking, food, olfactory function, weight changes, sensory awareness, and food-related quality of life, we investigated how various aspects of eating differ between participants with olfactory loss (n = 271), parosmia (n = 251), and normosmic controls (n = 166). Cooking habits in olfactory dysfunction revealed pronounced differences as compared with normosmic controls. Cooking with olfactory dysfunction was associated with, e.g., a lack of comfort and inspiration for cooking and an inability to make new foods successfully. Significant differences in cooking were a...
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Background The impact of qualitative olfactory disorders is underestimated. Parosmia, the distorted perception of familiar odors, and phantosmia, the experience of odors in the absence of a stimulus, can arise following postinfectious... more
Background The impact of qualitative olfactory disorders is underestimated. Parosmia, the distorted perception of familiar odors, and phantosmia, the experience of odors in the absence of a stimulus, can arise following postinfectious anosmia, and the incidences of both have increased substantially since the outbreak of COVID-19. Objective The aims of this study are to explore the symptoms and sequalae of postinfectious olfactory dysfunction syndrome using unstructured and unsolicited threads from social media, and to articulate the perspectives and concerns of patients affected by these debilitating olfactory disorders. Methods A thematic analysis and content analysis of posts in the AbScent Parosmia and Phantosmia Support group on Facebook was conducted between June and December 2020. Results In this paper, we identify a novel symptom, olfactory perseveration, which is a triggered, identifiable, and usually unpleasant olfactory percept that persists in the absence of an ongoing st...
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In a preregistered, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 using a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory... more
In a preregistered, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 using a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness. We quantified changes in chemosensory abilities during the course of the respiratory illness using 0–100 visual analog scales (VAS) for participants reporting a positive (C19+; n = 4148) or negative (C19−; n = 546) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome. Logistic regression models identified univariate and multivariate predictors of COVID-19 status and post-COVID-19 olfactory recovery. Both C19+ and C19− groups exhibited smell loss, but it was significantly larger in C19+ participants (mean ± SD, C19+: −82.5 ± 27.2 points; C19−: −59.8 ± 37.7). Smell loss during illness was the best predictor of COVID-19 in both univariate and multivariate models (ROC AUC = 0.72). Additional variables provide negligible model improvement. VAS ratings of smell loss ...
Research Interests: Multivariate Statistics, Prediction, Medicine, Logistic Regression, Multivariate Analysis, and 10 moreBiological Sciences, Visual Analogue Scale, Hyposmia, Chemical Senses, Olfactory perception, Anosmia, Univariate Analysis, Subclinical Infection, Coronavirus COVID-19, and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Perceptual experience enables us to know features of objects in our environment. But what does the experience of tasting enable us to know? By tasting we discover the tastes of foods or liquids; but what are tastes? An objectivist sees... more
Perceptual experience enables us to know features of objects in our environment. But what does the experience of tasting enable us to know? By tasting we discover the tastes of foods or liquids; but what are tastes? An objectivist sees tastes as properties of foods and drinks, which are there anyway, independent of how we experience them. On this view, tasting provides us with perceptual knowledge of real features of foods and liquids. By contrast, a subjectivist sees tastes as just features of our own experience: sensations on the tongue answerable to nothing other than themselves. Tastes, on this view, are not in the foods; rather foods give rise to tastes in us. A metaphysics of tastes that sees them not as properties of foods but as parts of our experience makes the epistemology of tasting an aspect of self-knowledge. Knowing how something tastes is being immediately aware of a certain sort of experience that occurs when we are eating or drinking. On this view, we can know all a...
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Olfactory dysfunction is amongst the many symptoms of Long COVID. Whilst most people that experience smell loss post COVID-19 recover their sense of smell and taste within a few weeks, about 10% of cases experience long-term problems, and... more
Olfactory dysfunction is amongst the many symptoms of Long COVID. Whilst most people that experience smell loss post COVID-19 recover their sense of smell and taste within a few weeks, about 10% of cases experience long-term problems, and their smell recovery journey often begins a few months later when everyday items start to smell distorted. This is known as parosmia. The aim of this study was to identify the key food triggers of parosmic distortions and investigate the relationship between distortion and disgust in order to establish the impact of parosmia on diet and quality of life. In this cross-sectional study (n = 727), respondents experiencing smell distortions completed a questionnaire covering aspects of smell loss, parosmia and the associated change in valence of everyday items. There was a significant correlation between strength and disgust (p < 0.0001), and when the selected items were reported as distorted, they were described as either unpleasant or gag-inducing ...
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Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable and highly subjective sense, mainly because it does not easily fit into accounts of perception based on visual experience. So far,... more
Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable and highly subjective sense, mainly because it does not easily fit into accounts of perception based on visual experience. So far, philosophical questions about the objects of olfactory perception have started by considering the nature of olfactory experience. However, there is no philosophically neutral or agreed conception of olfactory experience: it all depends on what one thinks odors are. We examine the existing philosophical methodology for addressing our sense of smell: on the one hand appeals to phenomenology that focus on the experiential dimensions of odor perception and on the other approaches that look at odor sources and their material dimensions. We show that neither strategy provides enough information to account for the human sense of smell and argue that the inclusion of the missing dimension of biology, with its concern for the function (or functions) of olfaction, provides the means to develop a satisfactory and empirically informed philosophy of smell.
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Recently, psychologists and neuroscientists have provided a great deal of evidence showing that perceptual experiences are mostly multimodal. As perceivers, we don’t usually recognize them as such. We think of the experiences we are... more
Recently, psychologists and neuroscientists have provided a great deal of evidence showing that perceptual experiences are mostly multimodal. As perceivers, we don’t usually recognize them as such. We think of the experiences we are having as either visual, or auditory or tactile, not realising that they often arise from the fusion of different sensory inputs. The experience of tasting something is one such case. What we call ‘taste’ is the result of the multisensory integration of touch taste and smell. These unified flavour experiences provide a challenge when trying to reconcile the underlying processing story with the conscious experience of subjects, but they also challenge assumptions about our access to our own experiences and whether how we conceive of those experiences plays any in role in accounting for their ultimate nature.
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Can there be a subject matter of genuine dispute between twoparticipants where neither side has overlooked any relevant fact, whereneither side has made a mistake and where both claim to be gettingmatters right? Would such a case, in... more
Can there be a subject matter of genuine dispute between twoparticipants where neither side has overlooked any relevant fact, whereneither side has made a mistake and where both claim to be gettingmatters right? Would such a case, in effect, amount to saying that thereis no fact of the matter and that the parties must agree to differ, orcould it ever be correct to say that they were both right? The issue forthis paper is whether such a possibility makes sense and whether thereare any real such cases. Recently, Crispin Wright has attempted tomake room for such possibilities, calling the ensuing doctrine, TrueRelativism (Wright 2001, 2004). According to Wright, if there aredisputes where neither side is in error, cognitively speaking, then it maybe correct to say that the truth of the matter is relative to, and the factspartly constituted by, each participant’s starting point or perspective.Are there any plausible cases of such disputes? In what follows I offerwhat appears to be the best candidate, to be found, somewhatsurprisingly, in the work of Donald Davidson (— someone usually takento be the chief opponent of relativism). It involves a plausible casewhere there are two equally adequate rival interpretations of an agent’smental states, no grounds for choosing between them, and no reasonfor saying either is mistaken. But before we look at that case let usconsider the issue more generally.
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ABSTRACT: Differences of evaluative judgments are often assumed to be a reason to prefer pluralism, relativism or subjectivism to objectivism, and this preference is even more pronounced in the case of judgements of taste. A comparison... more
ABSTRACT: Differences of evaluative judgments are often assumed to be a reason to prefer pluralism, relativism or subjectivism to objectivism, and this preference is even more pronounced in the case of judgements of taste. A comparison between perceptual and moral disagreements, however, enables us to understand that differences in judgments may be due to a difference in access to the situation or object, and not necessarily to a difference in value. The feeling of irresolvable differences that sometimes arises in situations of evaluation, may not hold in the absence of objective values and / or common values, but be due to a difficulty or inability to capture the perspective, or circumstances of assessment wherein the other agents are placed.
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Professional tasters will tell you that despite providing an occasional source of joy, tasting wines is hard work. It takes concentrated effort to get to grips with the liquid in the glass, to fix its character in mind and come to a... more
Professional tasters will tell you that despite providing an occasional source of joy, tasting wines is hard work. It takes concentrated effort to get to grips with the liquid in the glass, to fix its character in mind and come to a judgment about its quality. Skills are needed that developed gradually over time and had to be learned. There is always room for improvement and the tasting of new wines offers opportunities to gain more knowledge and experience. By contrast, many people find the idea that wine tasting is hard and that we have to learn or be taught how to taste as fanciful as the idea of being taught how to see or to hear. Nothing could be easier than tasting foods or drinks. Sensations of taste begin as soon as food or drink enters the mouth. We sip or chew, then swallow. The sensations are fleeting and transient, which admittedly makes them hard to concentrate on, though they make their presence felt by leaving us with impressions of liking or disliking. So is wine tasting really that hard? The difference between these two perspectives on tasting is surprising. They leave very little room for one another&#39;s view and yet they are based directly on the personal experiences of the respective tasters. So who is right? They are both wont to express a certain incredulity about the other&#39;s stance on tasting but the very different way in which they diagnose their disagreement offers us a potential insight into the recent speight of articles professing skepticism about wine expertise.
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tion of linguistics. The case against Chomsky is based on two principal claims. First, that we can separate the study of linguistic competence from the study of its outputs: only the latter belongs to linguistic inquiry. Second, Chomsky’s... more
tion of linguistics. The case against Chomsky is based on two principal claims. First, that we can separate the study of linguistic competence from the study of its outputs: only the latter belongs to linguistic inquiry. Second, Chomsky’s account of a speaker’s competence as consisiting in the mental representation of rules of a grammar for his language is mis-taken. I shall argue, fi rst, that Devitt fails to make a case for separating the study of outputs from the study of competence, and second, that Devitt mis-characterises Chomsky’s account of competence, and so his objections miss their target. Chomsky’s own views come close to a denial that speak-er’s have knowledge of their language. But a satisfactory account of what speakers are able to do will need to ascribe them linguistic knowledge that they use to speak and understand. I shall explore a conception of speaker’s knowledge of language that confi rms Chomsky’s mentalist view of linguistics but which is immune to Devitt’s ...
Full tasting two-dimensional similarity space for FR experts. (Blue single malt, black blends, red grain whisky). (DOCX 17Â kb)
Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored... more
Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, generally lacked quantitative measurements, were mostly restricted to data from single countries. Here, we report the development, implementation and initial results of a multi-lingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in three distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, 8 other, ages 19-79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change ±100) ...
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Disagreements about what is delicious, what is funny, what is morally acceptable can lead to intractable disputes between parties holding opposing views of a given subject. How should we think of such disputes? Do they always amount to... more
Disagreements about what is delicious, what is funny, what is morally acceptable can lead to intractable disputes between parties holding opposing views of a given subject. How should we think of such disputes? Do they always amount to genuine disagreements? The answer will depend on how we understand disagreement and how we should think about the meaning and truth of statements in these areas of discourse. I shall consider cases of dispute and disagreement where relativism about truth appears to give the best explanation of the phenomena. I will argue that that we cannot explain the relativist option merely by relativizing truth to an extra parameter, such as a standard of taste, or a sense of humour. Instead, I will focus on cases where the dispute concerns whether either of the two opposing parties is judging in accordance with an existing standard, and I shall suggest that how we should think of these cases bears important affinities with rule-following considerations found in the later Wittgenstein’s work.
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The new Chomskian orthodoxy denies that our linguistic competence gives us knowledge of a language, and that the representations in the language faculty are representations of anything. In reply, I have argued that through their... more
The new Chomskian orthodoxy denies that our linguistic competence gives us knowledge of a language, and that the representations in the language faculty are representations of anything. In reply, I have argued that through their intuitions speaker/hearers, (but not their language faculties) have knowledge of language, though not of any externally existing language. In order to count as knowledge, these intuitions must track linguistic facts represented in the language faculty. I defend this idea against the objections Collins has raised to such an account.
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Five patients who had undergone radiation therapy for cerebral tumors and whose conditions were deteriorating were examined by means of positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose. All five cases had similar clinical... more
Five patients who had undergone radiation therapy for cerebral tumors and whose conditions were deteriorating were examined by means of positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose. All five cases had similar clinical and computed tomographic findings. Using the PET technique the two cases of radiation necrosis were distinguished from the three recurrent tumors. In the two cases of radiation necrosis the rate of glucose utilization in the lesion was markedly reduced compared with the normal brain parenchyma. In the recurrent gliomas, however, the glucose metabolic rate was elevated. All five diagnoses were confirmed by biopsy or autopsy.
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2,5-Diaziridinyl-3,6-bis(carboethoxyamino)-1,4-benzoquinone (AZQ; Diaziquone, NSC 182986) is a rationally designed antitumor drug possessing sufficient lipid solubility to allow penetration into the central nervous system. Thirty-one... more
2,5-Diaziridinyl-3,6-bis(carboethoxyamino)-1,4-benzoquinone (AZQ; Diaziquone, NSC 182986) is a rationally designed antitumor drug possessing sufficient lipid solubility to allow penetration into the central nervous system. Thirty-one patients with high-grade glioma and progressive disease following radiation, with or without previous chemotherapy, have been treated with 144 cycles of drug, consisting of 20 mg/sq m given as an i.v. infusion on Days 1 and 8 of a 28-day cycle. Responses were measured by serial computer tomography scanning. Of the 28 evaluable patients, 6 (21%) had limited improvement (10 to 40% reduction in tumor size) on computer tomography scan, 10 (36%) had disease stabilization, and 12 (43%) had progressive disease. The drug was well tolerated clinically, with little acute toxicity. The major toxicity was myelosuppression, which appeared cumulative, using this dose regimen. AZQ was measurable in both tumor tissue and tumor cyst fluid in patients on therapy. Plasma ...
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Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning with [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) was used to study 59 patients with astrocytomas and three patients with other cerebral mass lesions. Suppression of gray-matter glucose utilization... more
Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning with [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) was used to study 59 patients with astrocytomas and three patients with other cerebral mass lesions. Suppression of gray-matter glucose utilization ranging from 8% to 64% (mean, 30%) was seen in 92% of cases. Three categories of suppression were apparent, with the greatest degrees of suppression occurring in edematous gray matter adjacent to mass lesions. Lesser degrees of suppression were noted in nonedematous structures (normal attenuation on computed tomographic scan) adjacent to the lesion. Significant suppression was also present in gray matter spatially remote from but functionally linked to the site of the lesion. This approach may become a useful tool for improved understanding of the clinical presentation of certain pathologic entities and for evaluation of disease progression and response to treatment.
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Explants derived from human gliomas have been characterized with respect to their cellular outgrowth pattern after 1-22 weeks in culture. A mat of cells which were fibronectin (FN)-positive and glial fibrillary acidic protein... more
Explants derived from human gliomas have been characterized with respect to their cellular outgrowth pattern after 1-22 weeks in culture. A mat of cells which were fibronectin (FN)-positive and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-negative (hereafter designated FN+ cells) with a polygonal, flat morphology covered the growth substrate in a swirling pattern for a mean diameter of 9.2 mm around FN+ explants. FN+ cells showed ruffled plasmalemma, dilated rough endoplasmic reticulin (RDR), and extracellular filamentous strands. Rare desmosomes were compatible with at most minor leptomeningeal components or differentiation. FN+ cells predominated in six of seven cultures at passage 2, and their features were the same from various high-grade gliomas and gliosarcoma. Around other explants, elongated or stellate cells which were GFAP+ and FN- grew in a netlike pattern with little cell-to-cell contact. These GFAP+ cells surrounded explants at a mean diameter of 2 mm, substantially less than...
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We tested fluorescent and light microscopic markers to improve recognition of pituitary adenomas at biopsy. The optimal reagent was 100 mg/L of fluoresceinated Ricinus communis agglutinin 120 (RCA 120) lectin plus 3 mg/L of propidium... more
We tested fluorescent and light microscopic markers to improve recognition of pituitary adenomas at biopsy. The optimal reagent was 100 mg/L of fluoresceinated Ricinus communis agglutinin 120 (RCA 120) lectin plus 3 mg/L of propidium iodide. The refrigerated solution was immediately available for use on routine frozen sections. The sections were stained for one minute and viewed immediately after they were rinsed with saline and coverslips applied. Fluorescein-labeled RCA 120, which binds galactose, localized vascular stroma. Propidium iodide, which binds nucleic acids, stained nuclei. Stromal configuration, nuclear morphology, and cell to stroma ratio were illuminated and used to distinguish adenoma from adenohypophysis. We also describe a method utilizing peroxidase-conjugated RCA 120 that demonstrates the same features by light microscopy. Fluoresceinated RCA 120-stained vessels and stroma of routinely processed material more reliably than hematoxylin-eosin or labeled antibody to...
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Authors have studied the ultrastructure of endothelial cells in the microvessels of malignant and benign gliomas and in particular, the numbers of tubular bodies (Weibel-Palade) in endothelial cells of glioma microvessels in related with... more
Authors have studied the ultrastructure of endothelial cells in the microvessels of malignant and benign gliomas and in particular, the numbers of tubular bodies (Weibel-Palade) in endothelial cells of glioma microvessels in related with blood vessel proliferation. Glioblastoma 6, astrocytoma grade II 1, oligodendroglioma 1 and 2 samples of non-tumor brain tissue were analyzed quantitatively using light and electron microscope with Karnovski fixative. All tissues were obtained from the center, the intermediate and the margin in each tumor tissue and just outside of the tumor at operation. 389 microvessels were examined in the total gliomas electronmicroscopically. Tubular body was first described by Weibel and Palade in the vascular endothelial cells of various organs in both man and animals. This is now considered to be an organelle specific to the endothelial cell, but its function is still unknown. Tubular body observed in the endothelial cells of the gliomas vessels consisted of...
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Neurofibrillary tangles composed of paired helical filaments were found in a human ganglioglioma. This is the first reported occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles in a neoplasm. These tangles were visible light microscopically with... more
Neurofibrillary tangles composed of paired helical filaments were found in a human ganglioglioma. This is the first reported occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles in a neoplasm. These tangles were visible light microscopically with hematoxylin-eosin and Bodian&amp;amp;#39;s stains. They were confirmed as neurofibrillary tangles with Congo red staining under polarized light and with thioflavine S fluorescence. Untrastructurally, the tangles were composed of 10-nm filaments twisted in a helix with 80 nm between constructions. Thus, neoplastic proliferation does not preclude production of paired helical filaments. Cells grew from explants of this tumor, but no paired helical filaments were found in the cells examined. Two other gangliogliomas and normal brain tissue studies by the same procedures did not show paired helical filaments. Gangliogliomas that contain neurofibrillary tangles provide an alternative source of abnormal filaments for analysis.
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Every speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts, and will come to know many more. It is nowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from... more
Every speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts, and will come to know many more. It is nowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This article explores options in accounting for language, and our knowledge of language, and defends the view that individuals' languages are constituted by the standing knowledge they carry from one speech situation to another.
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MIND ASSOCIATION OCCASIONAL SERIES This series consists of occasional volumes of original papers on predefined themes. The Mind Association nominates an editor or editors for each collection, and may co-operate with other bodies in... more
MIND ASSOCIATION OCCASIONAL SERIES This series consists of occasional volumes of original papers on predefined themes. The Mind Association nominates an editor or editors for each collection, and may co-operate with other bodies in promoting conferences or other ...
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It should pass as the merest commonplace, at least among philosophers of language, that a sentence is true when and only when reality is as the sentence describes it to be. However, elaborating this idea in the service of particular... more
It should pass as the merest commonplace, at least among philosophers of language, that a sentence is true when and only when reality is as the sentence describes it to be. However, elaborating this idea in the service of particular philosophical proposals is fraught with danger, as Stephen Neale shows in detail in Facing Facts (Oxford University Press, 2001) With considerable precision and care, Neale examines the commitments of both those who advocate, and those who argue against those who advocate, the view that a sentence stands for a situation or state of affairs in the world, or that a true sentence corresponds to, or is made true by, a fact. Neale's close examination results not only in a definitive and impressive account of the various collapsing arguments against facts that have come to be known as slingshots, but also yields insights into the underlying philosophical motivations of those who have wielded slingshot arguments. One of the most impressive aspects of these explorations is Neale's perspicuous presentation of the logical and metaphysical foundations of Donald Davidson's semantic programme: the culmination of fruitful exchanges over the years between Neale and Davidson about the nature of the latter's work. Sadly, Neale's chapter counts as the last word in those exchanges, but thankfully it is the best and most worked out account of the details of Davidson's semantic theory we have to date. I will concentrate on part of that chapter in the remarks that follow.
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Positron emission tomography was used to measure local cerebral glucose utilization by the 1-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose technique in 23 patients with cerebral gliomas. All 10 high-grade (III and IV) astrocytomas demonstrated a region... more
Positron emission tomography was used to measure local cerebral glucose utilization by the 1-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose technique in 23 patients with cerebral gliomas. All 10 high-grade (III and IV) astrocytomas demonstrated a region of high activity with a glucose consumption of 7.4 +/- 3.5 (SD) mg/100 gm per minute. The 13 low-grade (I and II) gliomas had a glucose metabolic rate of 4.0 +/- 1.8 mg/100 gm per minute, with no distinctly visible hot spot. Thus, we found a correlation between rate of glycolysis and malignancy in primary cerebral tumors. Cerebral cortical glucose utilization was often depressed in areas adjacent to or neurally connected to the tumor site, and there was focal irregular delta wave EEG activity in these areas.
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The rates of disappearance of glucose from the medium of 13 human glioma-derived cell lines and one cultured of normal human cortical astrocytes were determined by fluorometric techniques. High-grade glioma-derived cultures showed a range... more
The rates of disappearance of glucose from the medium of 13 human glioma-derived cell lines and one cultured of normal human cortical astrocytes were determined by fluorometric techniques. High-grade glioma-derived cultures showed a range of glucose consumption between 1 and 5 nmol/min/mg protein. Normal astrocyte cultures and cultures derived from grades I-III gliomas had a glucose consumption rate of 2-3 nmol/min/mg protein. Seven high-grade glioma lines were derived from surgical samples taken from patients who had been scanned by 18F-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron computed tomography. The rate of glucose consumption in these high-grade glioma-derived lines was close to the maximum local cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (LCMRglc) measured in situ in the tumors from which the cultures were derived. In cultured glioma-derived lines, approximately one-half of the glucose consumed was recovered as lactate and pyruvate, suggesting a reliance of glioma cells on aerobic glycolysis. ATP and phosphocreatine (PCr) levels were variable in the glioma-derived lines, and ATP was lower in the glioma-derived lines than in the normal astrocytes. Levels and regulation of glycogen differed significantly among the various glioma-derived cell lines. Glycogen content did not diminish as glucose was consumed, suggesting that glycogen utilization is not tightly regulated by the glucose metabolic rate. These results suggest that human glioma-derived cell cultures (1) adequately reflect the metabolic capacity of gliomas in situ and (2) are significantly altered in several aspects of their glycolytic metabolism.
Research Interests: Computed Tomography, Metabolism, Biology, Medicine, Energy Metabolism, and 15 moreCell Culture, Cell line, Humans, Glucose, Glucose Metabolism, Glioma, Astrocyte, Glycolysis, Clinical Sciences, Metabolic rate, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, Carbohydrate metabolism, Neurosciences, Adenosine Triphosphate, and Phosphocreatine
Several aspects of the regulation of the pentose phosphate pathway were examined in cultured normal human cortical astrocytes and gliomas of pathological grades I-IV. The generation of radiolabeled CO2 from [1-14C]glucose by the oxidative... more
Several aspects of the regulation of the pentose phosphate pathway were examined in cultured normal human cortical astrocytes and gliomas of pathological grades I-IV. The generation of radiolabeled CO2 from [1-14C]glucose by the oxidative arm of the pentose phosphate pathway is a saturable process and has a maximum flux rate of 8-9 nmol/hr/mg cell protein. The flux can be blocked by the glycolytic inhibitor iodoacetamide but is unaffected by agents which inhibit oxidative phosphorylation. The magnitude of the pentose phosphate flux is directly related to the glioma grade. Grade IV gliomas (glioblastoma) show a pentose phosphate flux rate of approximately 4% of the total glucose flux. The flux rate can be increased by pharmacological agents which decrease the NADPH/NADP+ ratio. Both the activity and the regulation of glioma glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) are altered in high-grade gliomas. While the affinity constants for cofactors in whole homogenates were not significantly different in glioma or normal astrocyte homogenates, normal astrocytes have a lower Km for glucose-6-phosphate and a G6PDH activity which is 10-fold greater than that of gliomas. NADPH is a powerful regulator of G6PDH activity in the normal astrocytes and in gliomas. At a NADPH/NADP+ ratio of 7:1 the normal astrocyte G6PDH is entirely inhibited, while the glioma enzyme is only 70% inhibited even at a ratio of 20:1. Increased metabolic flux through the oxidative arm of the pentose phosphate pathway is apparently due to an altered form of G6PDH.
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✓ Regional blood-to-tissue transport, expressed as a unidirectional transfer rate constant (K), was measured in experimental RT-9 brain tumors using 14C-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) and quantitative autoradiographic techniques. The... more
✓ Regional blood-to-tissue transport, expressed as a unidirectional transfer rate constant (K), was measured in experimental RT-9 brain tumors using 14C-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) and quantitative autoradiographic techniques. The magnitude of K depends on the permeability, surface area, and blood flow of the tissue capillaries. The transfer rate constant was variable within tumor tissue (range 0.001 to 0.178 ml/gm/min) and depended on tumor size, location (intraparenchymal, meningeal, or choroid plexus associated), and to a lesser extent on necrosis and cyst formation. Brain adjacent to tumor had higher K values, particularly around larger tumors (0.004 to 0.014 ml/gm/min), than corresponding brain regions in the contralateral hemisphere (0.001 to 0.002 ml/gm/min). Estimates of the fractional extraction of AIB by intraparenchymal tumors were between 0.008 and 0.4 ml/gm/min. Values of fractional extraction in this range indicate that tumor capillaries are not freely permeable t...
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✓ This report presents the results of a study using multiple techniques of the established human cell line, LM, which has been developed in culture medium from a patient with a right temporoparietal glioblastoma. This cell line has human... more
✓ This report presents the results of a study using multiple techniques of the established human cell line, LM, which has been developed in culture medium from a patient with a right temporoparietal glioblastoma. This cell line has human subtetraploid karyotype and has several features of a transformed line in culture. These include continuous propagation for 10 years, ability to form tumor nodules when transplanted into immunologically suppressed hamsters, and pleomorphic appearance. Ultrastructurally, it is characterized by multiple nuclei, few actin cables, and numerous surface-membrane microvilli, as well as abundant 9- to 10-nm cystoplasmic filaments. By its immunological reactivity, the line can be shown to contain glial fibrillary acidic protein at low levels, consistent with its glial origin and continued nature. Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (db-cAMP) induces formation of long astrocytic-like processes as well. Its membrane electrical characteristics include a lo...
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Research Interests: Pathology, Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Cytotoxicity, Comparative Study, and 15 moreCell Culture, Cell line, In Vitro, Humans, Glioma, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Cisplatin, Time Factors, Golgi Apparatus, ADJUVANT THERAPY, Cell Survival, Cytoplasm, Neurosciences, Plasma Membrane, and Cell Membrane
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ABSTRACT Several recent studies have demonstrated the existence of robust crossmodal correspondences between food and beverage items and shapes varying on the angular-round continuum. To date, however, the majority of this research has... more
ABSTRACT Several recent studies have demonstrated the existence of robust crossmodal correspondences between food and beverage items and shapes varying on the angular-round continuum. To date, however, the majority of this research has involved relatively simple gustatory, oral-somatosensory, and/or olfactory stimuli. In the present study, therefore, we extended this research in order to investigate whether people also exhibit robust crossmodal correspondences between shapes and cheese. To this end, participants in Experiment 1 (conducted at a Gastronomy event) tasted three aged farmhouse cheeses (Keen’s Cheddar, Tunworth, &amp; Berkswell, from Neal’s Yard Dairy, UK). Participants rated each cheese using a single response scale anchored at either end by a rounded and an angular shape. Significant differences in shape symbolism were observed across the three cheeses. In Experiments 2 (conducted with cheesemongers and cheese experts) and 3 (conducted with customers in a cheese store), participants separately rated the olfactory, gustatory, and oral-somatosensory attributes of different cheeses (Tunworth, Lancashire, and Stawley) on the angular-round continuum. The results revealed that participants’ crossmodal correspondences were based primarily on the taste, rather than the smell or texture of the cheeses. Implications of these findings for the marketing of dairy products are discussed.Practical applicationsThe results of the present study demonstrate that taste is the leading contributor to the systematic associations consumers have between the flavors of cheese and certain angular/sharp or organic/round shapes and speech sounds, with the same pattern of crossmodal correspondences being held across different tasting groups (non-experts, regular consumers, and cheesemongers/experts). These results provide insights regarding the abstract imagery that might best be associated with specific taste attributes in commercial cheeses. These results may also be used to not only develop abstract imagery for product packaging that can capture specific shape/sound symbolic properties, but also to develop descriptors that can provide a common ground on which to talk about cheeses, thereby improving communication between different panels of cheese tasters.
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An in vitro microcytotoxicity assay was utilized to determine the sensitivity of 58 cultured human malignant gliomas to the chemotherapy agent 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU). Of 58 such tumors, 42 (72%) showed a statistically... more
An in vitro microcytotoxicity assay was utilized to determine the sensitivity of 58 cultured human malignant gliomas to the chemotherapy agent 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU). Of 58 such tumors, 42 (72%) showed a statistically significant cytotoxic response to BCNU in this assay. For those responding tumor lines, the cytotoxic index ranged from 0.25 to 0.76, with most clustered at the 0.40 level. To determine the therapeutic predictive relevance of such microcytotoxicity testing, the clinical course of patients receiving postoperative radiation therapy plus two or more doses of nitrosourea chemotherapy, as well as two or more computerized tomographic scans, was evaluated. In the 14 patients meeting all these criteria, tumor size increased in all five patients whose tumors did not respond to BCNU in the microcytotoxicity test. Six of the nine patients whose tumors in culture showed significant sensitivity to BCNU in vitro showed a clear decrease in tumor size over periods ranging from 17 to 48 months. Tumors in two patients increased in size, and one remained unchanged over the interval studied. These data support the concept that in vitro microcytotoxicity testing can be predictive of clinical response. Further study of this correlation seems warranted.
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Over 150 cases of central nervous system tumors have been studied with positron emission tomography using fluorine-18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) as a tracer. From this material 100 consecutive cases of cerebral glioma have been... more
Over 150 cases of central nervous system tumors have been studied with positron emission tomography using fluorine-18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) as a tracer. From this material 100 consecutive cases of cerebral glioma have been reviewed and analyzed. The results show a strong correlation of tumor grade with glycolytic rate, with visual &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;hot spots&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; present in all high-grade neoplasms and in only four low-grade tumors. The quantitative accuracy is limited by three basic factors. First, the measurement of tissue uptake, as compared with the parent technique, autoradiography, is more difficult because detection must be done outside the body. Effects such as scattered radiation and self-attenuation introduce errors unless properly corrected. A more serious problem when measuring small structures, such as a rim-shaped high-grade glioma, is the limited spatial resolution. The most advanced scanner, the Neuro-PET, has a resolution of 6 to 7 mm. Second, corrections are needed for backflow, including free tracer at the time of the scan that will return to the blood and &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;trapped&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; tracer that will backflow because of the presence of phosphatase. These corrections are calculated from the blood activity using nominal rate constants for 18FDG. Our study found no significant alteration in rate constants between normal and tumoral tissue. Finally, a lumped constant is needed to correct for kinetic differences between 18FDG and glucose. If there is a change in the mechanism of either membrane transport or the hexokinase reaction, the lumped constant may change. However, measurements of actual glucose utilization in tissue culture lines from six patients support the 18FDG results.
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Immunofluorescent staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been used as part of the diagnostic evaluation of eleven patients and compared with routine special stains. In one case, a difficult fibrillary neoplasm of the... more
Immunofluorescent staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been used as part of the diagnostic evaluation of eleven patients and compared with routine special stains. In one case, a difficult fibrillary neoplasm of the spinal cord, this diagnostic procedure provided rapid, positive identification of the glial nature of the tumor. In all cases, the GFAP reactivity was consistent with staining properties of PTAH and more rapid than PTAH.
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Five human cell lines cultured from high- and low-grade astrocytomas in cerebral hemisphere have been analyzed for DNA and protein distribution by flowcytometric (FCM) and correlated with cytogenetic profiles. Simultaneous calibration... more
Five human cell lines cultured from high- and low-grade astrocytomas in cerebral hemisphere have been analyzed for DNA and protein distribution by flowcytometric (FCM) and correlated with cytogenetic profiles. Simultaneous calibration with chicken erythrocytes as a co-running standard provided an estimate of chromosomal number of predominate stem cells of each cell line by the ratio of the DNA content of the major peak (G1) to that of chicken erythrocyte (T/E ratio) of FCM. Various lines had different distributions of chromosomal number, ranging from near diploid to tetraploid. Each line had a stem-cell population and chromosomal markers indicative of clonal selection, but no common marker specific to astrocytomas. The histogram of DNA distribution obtained by FCM correlated well with the chromosomal distribution by cytogenetic analysis. In addition, simultaneous measurement of protein and DNA content in multidimensional FCM demonstrated a sigmoid configuration of the profiles, which indicated a gradual increase of protein content associated with an increase of chromosomal number or with progression of cell cycle. To avoid confusion of a bimodal chromosomal distribution with the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, and to determine chromosomal numbers associated with a DNA histogram, simultaneous cytogenetic and FCM study are required. More rapid than cytogenetic analysis, the T/E ratio allows estimation of chromosomal number of the stem-cell population associated with DNA histograms of cultured glioma-derived cell lines.
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Research Interests: Multidisciplinary, Nature, Hearing, Humans, Touch, and 4 moreSmell, Taste, Flavour, and Flavoring agents
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Review of Andreas Keller's The Philosophy of Olfaction. Discusses the role of smell in consciousness and the multisensory interactions of smell with vision and other senses.
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Background: Although most Scotch whisky is blended from different casks, a firm distinction exists in the minds of consumers and in the marketing of Scotch between single malts and blended whiskies. Consumers are offered cultural,... more
Background: Although most Scotch whisky is blended from different casks, a firm distinction exists in the minds of consumers and in the marketing of Scotch between single malts and blended whiskies. Consumers are offered cultural, geographical and production reasons to treat Scotch whiskies as falling into the categories of blends and single malts. There are differences in the composition, method of distillation and origin of the two kinds of bottled spirits. But does this category distinction correspond to a perceptual difference detectable by whisky drinkers? Do experts and novices show differences in their perceptual sensitivities to the distinction between blends and single malts? To test the sensory basis of this distinction, we conducted a series of blind tasting experiments in three countries with different levels of familiarity with the blends versus single malts distinction (the UK, the USA and France). In each country, expert and novice participants had to perform a free sorting task on nine whiskies (four blends, four single malts, one single grain, plus one repeat) first by olfaction, then by tasting.
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Psychologists and neuroscientists tell us that flavour is the result of multi-sensory integration of olfactory, tactile and taste impressions, modulated by tasting's dynamic time course and the location of sensory stimuli in the mouth.... more
Psychologists and neuroscientists tell us that flavour is the result of multi-sensory integration of olfactory, tactile and taste impressions, modulated by tasting's dynamic time course and the location of sensory stimuli in the mouth. According to this definition, the flavour of a wine is a psychological construct that can vary from subject to subject as a result of different threshold sensitivities tasters have to acid, tannin, sugar, alcohol, C02 and sulphur. To this description we could add the hedonic values that get painted on to particular sensations. Lighting conditions, mood, and even sounds can affect our experience of tasting, and wines can be enhanced or distorted by accompanying food choices. All of this suggests that wine makers have very little influence over the resulting experience drinkers of their wines will have. However, we must distinguish between the experience of drinkers and the flavours of wines. The relationship between them is far from simple and in spite of the careful findings of psychologists and neuroscientists, and the wilder claims of wine writers, there is still room for the idea of flavour as a multi-dimensional, objective property of a wine that depends both on its chemistry and the needs and interests of those who make and consume it. INTRODUCTION Is there such a thing as the true taste of a wine? Many people will tell you that there isn't. The common opinion of both sensory scientists, novice tasters and wine writers is that tastes are created by how we respond to a wine rather than residing in properties of the wine itself. For example, if you like a wine and I don't, it is often assumed that the way it tastes to you must be different from the way it tastes to me. However, this either assumes that how a wine tastes to someone includes their liking or disliking of it, or that if the wine tasted the same way to both of us we would both like it (or dislike it). And yet a more plausible explanation is that it tastes similar to both of us but that you like that taste and I don't. For this reason we should distinguish how a wine tastes to us from our hedonic reaction to it. Work in neuroscience shows that different brain areas are involved in recognizing a tastant's intensity and responding to it hedonically. Moreover, our judgements of the identity and intensity of a stimulus stay constant when its hedonic value changes, as is shown in the case of stimulus-specific satiety. (Kringelbach and Stein 2010). These findings enable us to separate how a wine tastes to someone and their liking (or disliking) of it. But how a wine tastes to me or to you at a time is still quite different from talking about the taste of the wine itself. Not all experiences of a wine provide an accurate guide to the wine's true characteristics. We know that if we consume lemon juice in a salad dressing when drinking a white wine, the wine will taste flat, and yet, we also know, as practiced tasters, that our experience of the wine at that time does not reflect the true taste of the wine.
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We can explain the different tastes of two wines by the differences in their compounds. However, we cannot explain what a wine tastes like solely in terms of its chemical compounds. The same active compounds can affect individual tasters... more
We can explain the different tastes of two wines by the differences in their compounds. However, we cannot explain what a wine tastes like solely in terms of its chemical compounds. The same active compounds can affect individual tasters quite differently because of differences in their thresholds of perception. Moreover, the effects of different compounds on our senses can give rise to cross-modal interactions where sensations of, say, sweetness, can be enhanced by a vanilla aroma without a corresponding increase in the wine's sugar levels. This makes it difficult to relate the micro-chemical composition of a wine to the perception of its tastes or flavours. However, we can achieve a better understanding of the relation between a wine's compounds and its taste profile once we recognize the dynamic and cross-modal nature of taste perception. The full story of the impact of certain compounds on tasters will have to take account of the cross-modal influence one sense has on another. I will illustrate the sort of account that is needed by reference to recent findings in perceptual psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
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Disagreements about what is delicious, what is funny, what is morally acceptable can lead to intractable disputes between parties holding opposing views of a given subject. How should we think of such disputes? Do they always amount to... more
Disagreements about what is delicious, what is funny, what is morally acceptable can lead to intractable disputes between parties holding opposing views of a given subject. How should we think of such disputes? Do they always amount to genuine
disagreements? The answer will depend on how we understand disagreement and how we should think about the meaning and truth of statements in these areas of discourse. I shall consider cases of dispute and disagreement where relativism about
truth appears to give the best explanation of the phenomena. I will argue that we cannot explain the relativist option merely by relativizing truth to an extra parameter, such as a standard of taste, or a sense of humour. Instead, I will focus on cases where
the dispute concerns whether either of the two opposing parties is judging in accordance with an existing standard, and I shall suggest that how we should think of these cases bears important affinities with rule-following considerations found in the later Wittgenstein’s work.
disagreements? The answer will depend on how we understand disagreement and how we should think about the meaning and truth of statements in these areas of discourse. I shall consider cases of dispute and disagreement where relativism about
truth appears to give the best explanation of the phenomena. I will argue that we cannot explain the relativist option merely by relativizing truth to an extra parameter, such as a standard of taste, or a sense of humour. Instead, I will focus on cases where
the dispute concerns whether either of the two opposing parties is judging in accordance with an existing standard, and I shall suggest that how we should think of these cases bears important affinities with rule-following considerations found in the later Wittgenstein’s work.
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People’s use of the terms ‘taste’ and ‘flavour’ is often confusing, both in everyday use and in the academic literature. Failure to distinguish these ‘basic’ terms is likely to slow the development of our understanding of the chemical... more
People’s use of the terms ‘taste’ and ‘flavour’ is often confusing, both in everyday use and in the academic literature. Failure to distinguish these ‘basic’ terms is likely to slow the development of our understanding of the chemical senses, currently a rapidly growing area of study in perception science. Our aim here is to defend the idea that, ultimately, it doesn’t make sense to treat experiences of the putative basic tastes, such as ‘sweetness’ and ‘sourness’ in our everyday experience as tastes. Rather, we suggest, the evidence supports the view that they should be treated as flavours, just like ‘fruity’ or ‘meaty’. Here we highlight the pervasive nature of the confusion between tastes and flavours, and outline a number of reasons for its occurrence, linked to the topics of attention and oral referral. We then provide psychological, physiological, and philosophical reasons to support the stance that tastes should be classified as a sub-component of flavours and show how doing so helps to dissolve certain debates.
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Recently, psychologists and neuroscientists have provided a great deal of evidence showing that perceptual experiences are mostly multimodal. As perceivers, we don’t usually recognize them as such. We think of the experiences we are... more
Recently, psychologists and neuroscientists have provided a great deal of evidence showing that perceptual experiences are mostly multimodal. As perceivers, we don’t usually recognize them as such. We think of the experiences we are having as either visual, or auditory or tactile, not realising that they often arise from the fusion of different sensory inputs. The experience of tasting something is one such case. What we call ‘taste’ is the result of the multisensory integration of touch taste and smell. These unified flavour experiences provide a challenge when trying to reconcile the underlying processing story with the conscious experience of subjects, but they also challenge assumptions about our access to our own experiences and whether how we conceive of those experiences plays any in role in accounting for their ultimate nature.
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Have you ever noticed how many people ask for a Bloody Mary or tomato juice from the drinks trolley on airplanes? The air stewards have, and when you ask the people who order, they will tell you that they rarely order such a drink at any... more
Have you ever noticed how many people ask for a Bloody Mary or tomato juice from the drinks trolley on airplanes? The air stewards have, and when you ask the people who order, they will tell you that they rarely order such a drink at any other time. Could it be that umami-rich tomato provides one of the only basic tastes that is relatively unaffected by the loud background noise that one is exposed to while in flight? That is the research suggestion, or hypothesis, outlined in this opinion piece. Should such a claim be validated by future research, the potential application for airline catering could be huge.
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Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of white and/or red wine grapes. Their relative proportions are thought to contribute to a sparkling wine’s distinctive flavour profile, but this... more
Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of white and/or red wine grapes. Their relative proportions are thought to contribute to a sparkling wine’s distinctive flavour profile, but this has not yet been tested empirically. We, therefore, conducted a blind tasting experiment in which the participants had to report the perceived proportion of white grapes in a range of seven sparkling wines (including six Champagnes).
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Several recent studies have demonstrated the existence of robust crossmodal correspondences between food and beverage items and shapes varying on the angular-round continuum. To date, however, the majority of this research has involved... more
Several recent studies have demonstrated the existence of robust crossmodal correspondences between food and beverage items and shapes varying on the angular-round continuum. To date, however, the majority of this research has involved relatively simple gustatory, oral-somatosensory, and/or olfactory stimuli. In the present study, therefore, we extended this research in order to investigate whether people also exhibit robust crossmodal correspondences between shapes and cheese. To this end, participants in Experiment 1 (conducted at a Gastronomy event) tasted three aged farmhouse cheeses (Keen’s Cheddar, Tunworth, & Berkswell, from Neal’s Yard Dairy, UK). Participants rated each cheese using a single response scale anchored at either end by a rounded and an angular shape. Significant differences in shape symbolism were observed across the three cheeses. In Experiments 2 (conducted with cheesemongers and cheese experts) and 3 (conducted with customers in a cheese store), participants separately rated the olfactory, gustatory, and oral-somatosensory attributes of different cheeses (Tunworth, Lancashire, and Stawley) on the angular-round continuum. The results revealed that participants’ crossmodal corre- spondences were based primarily on the taste, rather than the smell or texture of the cheeses. Implica- tions of these findings for the marketing of dairy products are discussed.
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Flavour is often defined in the sensory sciences as a unified percept involving inputs from taste, touch and smell. This leads psychologists and neuroscientists to treat flavour as a psychological construct made by the brain. However,... more
Flavour is often defined in the sensory sciences as a unified percept involving inputs from taste, touch and smell. This leads psychologists and neuroscientists to treat flavour as a psychological construct made by the brain. However, this view fails to distinguish between flavour and flavour perception. The latter is a construct but the former can still be treated as an objective quality of foods and liquids we use our senses to detect.
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In his latest book, Michael Devitt rejects Chomsky’s mentalist conception of linguistics. The case against Chomsky is based on two principal claims. First, that we can separate the study of linguistic competence from the study of its... more
In his latest book, Michael Devitt rejects Chomsky’s mentalist conception
of linguistics. The case against Chomsky is based on two principal
claims. First, that we can separate the study of linguistic competence
from the study of its outputs: only the latter belongs to linguistic inquiry.
Second, Chomsky’s account of a speaker’s competence as consisiting in
the mental representation of rules of a grammar for his language is mistaken.
I shall argue, fi rst, that Devitt fails to make a case for separating
the study of outputs from the study of competence, and second, that Devitt
mis-characterises Chomsky’s account of competence, and so his objections
miss their target. Chomsky’s own views come close to a denial that speaker’s
have knowledge of their language. But a satisfactory account of what
speakers are able to do will need to ascribe them linguistic knowledge
that they use to speak and understand. I shall explore a conception of
speaker’s knowledge of language that confi rms Chomsky’s mentalist view
of linguistics but which is immune to Devitt’s criticisms.
of linguistics. The case against Chomsky is based on two principal
claims. First, that we can separate the study of linguistic competence
from the study of its outputs: only the latter belongs to linguistic inquiry.
Second, Chomsky’s account of a speaker’s competence as consisiting in
the mental representation of rules of a grammar for his language is mistaken.
I shall argue, fi rst, that Devitt fails to make a case for separating
the study of outputs from the study of competence, and second, that Devitt
mis-characterises Chomsky’s account of competence, and so his objections
miss their target. Chomsky’s own views come close to a denial that speaker’s
have knowledge of their language. But a satisfactory account of what
speakers are able to do will need to ascribe them linguistic knowledge
that they use to speak and understand. I shall explore a conception of
speaker’s knowledge of language that confi rms Chomsky’s mentalist view
of linguistics but which is immune to Devitt’s criticisms.
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EVERY speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts and will come to know many more. It is knowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from... more
EVERY speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts and will come to know many more. It is knowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions
about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This chapter
explores options in accounting for language and our knowledge of language and defends the view that individuals’ languages are constituted by the standing knowledge they carry from one speech situation to another.
about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This chapter
explores options in accounting for language and our knowledge of language and defends the view that individuals’ languages are constituted by the standing knowledge they carry from one speech situation to another.
Research Interests:
EVERY speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts and will come to know many more. It is knowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from... more
EVERY speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts and will come to know many more. It is knowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions
about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This chapter
explores options in accounting for language and our knowledge of language and defends the view that individuals’ languages are constituted by the standing knowledge they carry from one speech situation to another.
about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This chapter
explores options in accounting for language and our knowledge of language and defends the view that individuals’ languages are constituted by the standing knowledge they carry from one speech situation to another.
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Most wine tasters and many wine critics will tell you that taste is subjective. It is a matter of what you like or dislike, of what is right for you. In matters of taste your opinion is sovereign. You should simply not allow yourself to... more
Most wine tasters and many wine critics will tell you that taste
is subjective. It is a matter of what you like or dislike, of what
is right for you. In matters of taste your opinion is sovereign.
You should simply not allow yourself to be persuaded that you have not fully appreciated this or that wine: there is no such thing as getting it right or wrong. It is your opinion that counts. Such is the oft-propounded wisdom that it is somewhat difficult for others to get a hearing. However, a closer examination of the business of taste and tasting will show us that things are not so clear-cut. To begin with, the reasons people offer for saying that taste is subjective vary considerably and not all of them are compatible with one another. Moreover, the considerations
most often advanced in favour of subjectivity are not always
consistent with the attitudes or practices of those who advance them. (It is harder than one thinks to live up to the belief that taste is subjective.)
is subjective. It is a matter of what you like or dislike, of what
is right for you. In matters of taste your opinion is sovereign.
You should simply not allow yourself to be persuaded that you have not fully appreciated this or that wine: there is no such thing as getting it right or wrong. It is your opinion that counts. Such is the oft-propounded wisdom that it is somewhat difficult for others to get a hearing. However, a closer examination of the business of taste and tasting will show us that things are not so clear-cut. To begin with, the reasons people offer for saying that taste is subjective vary considerably and not all of them are compatible with one another. Moreover, the considerations
most often advanced in favour of subjectivity are not always
consistent with the attitudes or practices of those who advance them. (It is harder than one thinks to live up to the belief that taste is subjective.)
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Philosophers often claim that it is through speech that we make knowledge of our minds available to one another, and that it is through the medium of a shared language that we achieve a genuine meeting of minds.When combined with a... more
Philosophers often claim that it is through speech that we make knowledge of our minds available to one another, and that it is through the medium of a shared language that we achieve a genuine meeting of minds.When combined with a conception of linguistic understanding as the direct perception of meaning in people’s words, the view suggests that there is no barrier to
knowing the minds of others. Certainly, when listening to a language we understand, we do not hear the acoustic speech signal as just a sequence of sounds: we hear what is being said. As a phenomenological observation, the claim is impeccable, but it is mistaken epistemologically to assume that when we hear words as meaningful it is because we hear meanings in the sounds, perceived as immediately present on the surface of speech. As I shall argue,talk of the surface of speech and the location of sounds is misplaced. What we
directly perceive are the sources of sounds, and the source of speech sounds is the human voice. The experience of listening to speech gives us non-linguistic information about a voice as source, while the meanings we hear the voiced sounds to have are the meanings we as listeners have attached to those words:
the meanings they have for us. Contrary to expectations, this inner model of linguistic understanding can still accommodate knowledge of what others are saying, and so presents no obstacle to our knowing what others have in mind.
knowing the minds of others. Certainly, when listening to a language we understand, we do not hear the acoustic speech signal as just a sequence of sounds: we hear what is being said. As a phenomenological observation, the claim is impeccable, but it is mistaken epistemologically to assume that when we hear words as meaningful it is because we hear meanings in the sounds, perceived as immediately present on the surface of speech. As I shall argue,talk of the surface of speech and the location of sounds is misplaced. What we
directly perceive are the sources of sounds, and the source of speech sounds is the human voice. The experience of listening to speech gives us non-linguistic information about a voice as source, while the meanings we hear the voiced sounds to have are the meanings we as listeners have attached to those words:
the meanings they have for us. Contrary to expectations, this inner model of linguistic understanding can still accommodate knowledge of what others are saying, and so presents no obstacle to our knowing what others have in mind.