My project, Tracing Shumi: Politics and Aesthetics in Modern Japanese Literary Discourse and Fiction, traces the concept of shumi (趣味) in late 19th and early 20th century Japanese literary... Show moreMy project, Tracing Shumi: Politics and Aesthetics in Modern Japanese Literary Discourse and Fiction, traces the concept of shumi (趣味) in late 19th and early 20th century Japanese literary discourse and fiction. The word shumi was introduced in the 1880s as a translation word for the notion of 'taste'. However, my project aims to show how the word operated beyond a mere translation of an idea. Instead, I demonstrate how shumi was used to rhetorically frame the ways in which people were supposed to behave, sense, and consume and which actors and institutions benefited from such discursive frameworks. Yet at the same time, this dissertation argues that the language of shumi also undermined the very ideological structures it sought to engender. Ultimately, Tracing Shumi, sheds light on how modernity unfolds in the intersection of politics and aesthetics, beyond a limited imagination of politics entirely in terms of power and of aesthetics solely in terms of beauty, at a specific juncture in Japanese history. Show less
This essay investigates Dasan Jeong Yak-yong's (1762–1836) account of human-nature-as-taste, by comparing his commentaries on significant chapters in the Mengzi to Zhu Xi's commentaries. Dasan... Show moreThis essay investigates Dasan Jeong Yak-yong's (1762–1836) account of human-nature-as-taste, by comparing his commentaries on significant chapters in the Mengzi to Zhu Xi's commentaries. Dasan argues that human nature is understood through giho, taste sentiments and desires, and not as Principle (li). I first introduce Dasan's account of human-nature-as-taste in his commentaries to 3A1 and 7A4. Next, I argue that giho is most appropriately translated as “taste,” because this term captures the dispositional characteristics of giho as a mental faculty as well as its mental effects, such as desires, sentiments, and preferences. I then examine Dasan's and Zhu Xi's commentaries on 6A7 and 6A6, to illustrate how Dasan's view of human-nature-as-taste interprets the chapters differently from Zhu Xi's metaphysical account of human-nature-as-Principle, which Dasan considers as unsupported by the philological and contextual grounds. This exploration of Dasan's empirical account of human-nature-as-taste, serving as a preliminary for a philosophical study of his reinterpretation of the Confucian Classics and his performative account of moral self-cultivation, will provide us with an alternative perspective to the Neo-Confucian metaphysic-epistemic account of human nature. Show less
Meer, A.F. van; Steenbergen, H. van; Dillen, L.F. van 2023
Distracted eating can cause overconsumption. Whereas previous work has shown that cognitive load suppresses perceived taste intensity and increases subsequent consumption, the mechanism behind... Show moreDistracted eating can cause overconsumption. Whereas previous work has shown that cognitive load suppresses perceived taste intensity and increases subsequent consumption, the mechanism behind distraction-induced overconsumption remains unclear. To elucidate this, we performed two event-related fMRI experiments that examined how cognitive load affects neural responses and perceived intensity and preferred intensity, respectively, to solutions varying in sweetness. In Experiment 1 (N = 24), participants tasted weak sweet and strong sweet glucose solutions and rated their intensity while we concurrently varied cognitive load using a digit-span task. In Experiment 2 (N = 22), participants tasted five different glucose concentrations under varying cognitive load and then indicated whether they wanted to keep, decrease or increase its sweetness. Participants in Experiment 1 rated strong sweet solutions as less sweet under high compared to low cognitive load, which was accompanied by attenuated activation the right middle insula and bilateral DLPFC. Psychophysiological interaction analyses showed that cognitive load moreover altered connectivity between the middle insula and nucleus accumbens and DLPFC and middle insula while tasting strong sweet solutions. In Experiment 2, cognitive load did not affect participants’ preferred sweetness intensity. fMRI results revealed that cognitive load attenuated DLPFC activation for the strongest sweet solutions in the study. In conclusion, our behavioral and neuroimaging results suggest that cognitive load dampens the sensory processing of strong sweet solutions in particular, which may indicate higher competition for attentional resources for strong sweet than weak sweet solutions under high cognitive load. Implications for future research are discussed. Show less
Brink, M. van den; IJpma, I.; Belkom, B. van; Fiocco, M.; Havermans, R.C.; Tissing, W.J.E. 2020
Purpose Chemotherapy can affect smell and taste function. This has never been investigated in childhood cancer patients during chemotherapy. The objective of this study was to determine whether... Show morePurpose Chemotherapy can affect smell and taste function. This has never been investigated in childhood cancer patients during chemotherapy. The objective of this study was to determine whether psychophysical smell and taste tests are suitable for children with cancer. Taste and smell function, fungiform papillae density, and eating behavior were measured before (T1) and after (T2) a cycle of chemotherapy and compared with healthy controls. Methods Thirty-one childhood cancer patients treated for a hematological, solid, or brain malignancy (median age 12 years, 16 girls), and 24 healthy controls (median age: 11 years, 10 girls) participated. Smell function was measured using Sniffin' Sticks, including a threshold, discrimination, and identification test. Taste Strips were used to determine recognition thresholds for sweet, sour, salty, and bitter taste. Papillae density was investigated by counting the fungiform papillae of the anterior tongue. Eating behavior was assessed using the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS). Results Smell and taste function could be investigated in more than 90% of the patients, while fungiform papillae density could be determined in 61% of the patients. A significant difference in smell threshold was found between patients and controls (p = 0.001), showing lower thresholds in patients. In patients, sweet taste (p < 0.001), bitter taste (p = 0.028), and total taste function (p = 0.004) were significantly different after a cycle of chemotherapy, with higher scores at T2. Conclusion The assessment of smell, taste, and fungiform papillae density is feasible in children with cancer. Results of the current study suggest that smell and taste sensitivity increased in children with cancer. Show less
