Forms of life, forms of mind

Dr. Michael Levin

,

Olfaction and cognition: a conversation with Ann-Sophie Barwich and Matt Rodriguez

Published by

Mike Levin

on

Much work on the mechanisms and properties of cognition are grounded in the investigation of vision. This post is a conversation we had with Ann-Sophie Barwich and Matt Rodriguez, on the neurophilosophy of olfaction and more generally the “machine” metaphor. I first learned about this work through their excellent paper “Rage against the what? The machine metaphor in biology”.

The recording:

Dr. Barwich’s signature info:

Ann-Sophie Barwich, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Indiana University, Bloomington, History & Philosophy of Science and Medicine | Cognitive Science 

Website | Book 1 | Book 2 | Lab

“A cleric who loses his faith abandons his calling, a philosopher who loses his re-defines his subject.” Ernest Gellner

“The ethical code doesn’t have to win, it doesn’t have to lose either, it has to exist!” Modified after Helmut Schmidt

Some pointers to fascinating work provided by Dr. Barwich:

  1. Why model system? It’s the background against which most of the following topics emerged (perceptual ambiguity in Ch. 3-4 and 9; biology not chemistry in Ch. 6, non-topography in Ch. 7-8): https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674278721
  1. Deconstructing the topographic paradigm in vision for olfaction and pointing to morphological computation via genetic transcription mechanisms: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/z9jqx 
  1. Linking representational drift to DST (with Gabe, 2023): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tops.12689
  1. It’s biology, not chemistry! (and why machine learning models have failed thus far; 2022): https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.981294/full
  1. Perceptual ambiguity (2022; should we model molecules, subjective feelings, or biology?): https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/phc3.12883
  1. Mixture coding and allosteric modulation in the olfactory periphery; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23843514/  
  1. Minimal agent modeling navigational behavior via respiratory feedback:  https://direct.mit.edu/isal/proceedings/isal2024/36/33/123516

By the way, our Fieldshift system now includes a new domain in the dropdown menu, giving the ability to convert Abstracts about vision science to the space of olfaction research, try it out!

Featured image courtesy of Midjourney.

, ,
Previous Post
Next Post

8 responses to “Olfaction and cognition: a conversation with Ann-Sophie Barwich and Matt Rodriguez”

  1. Mr K Kitab Avatar
    Mr K Kitab

    Hello sir,

    do you have access to the PDF of Bioelectromagnetic Medicine from 2004 edited by Rosch and Markov? Is worth reading or is it woo-woo?
    Best wishes.

    Reply
    1. Mike Levin Avatar
      Mike Levin

      Sorry, I don’t seem to have it.

      Reply
  2. Teja Avatar
    Teja

    Thank you so much, Mike! <3

    Reply
  3. Michel-Marie SOLITO de Solis Avatar
    Michel-Marie SOLITO de Solis

    Great “audacity “. Infinite promises.

    Reply
  4. Benjamin L Avatar
    Benjamin L

    A lot of this sounds like Lisa Feldman Barrett’s psychological constructionism, like the finding about how the smell of lemons means something different to Americans vs Italians is similar to how a facial “expression” means different things to different people (as opposed to expressing some given, fixed meaning that essentially forces itself upon your mind). Relatedly, aspects of a facial “expression” are always viewed in context with the whole face and the surrounding situation. You’re never observing a muscle twitch in isolation any more than you smell a single molecule. I’ve long been interested in the senses as a possible area for constructionism to contribute to, so I’m excited to learn about this research. The links are very helpful.

    I also like the discussion around 41:00 of Proustian memory being motor behavior rather than something “mental”. It’s very Thelen-esque. On some level, it feels like everything should be motor behavior because all phenomena are presumably just systems moving around and taking on new forms as its internal and external circumstances changes, a process which could be called development instead of motor behavior depending on the context.

    Regarding the discussion of category errors at the end, psychological constructionism treats categories as observer-dependent classifications, the instances of which are grouped together for some functional purpose. Here’s Barrett and Lida (emphasis in original):

    > An emotion category label, such as “fear,” when referring to all instances, in all situations, in all creatures whose brains are equipped to construct anger, is a *population of context-specific events* whose physical features will be *highly* variable, and whose functional features will also be variable, but perhaps less so. Each instance of the category is, itself, assembled in a brain that continually constructs situated conceptual categories to coordinate and guide action and construct the features of experience in a metabolically efficient manner. This variation arises because physical signals such as heart rate variability, skin conductance, serotonin release and uptake, smiles, frowns, scowls, vocalizations, etc. have no inherent, biologically prepared emotional meaning. Physical features are *made* meaningful as an instance of emotion as a brain predicts that, in a
    given situation, *these features are functionally similar to past instances of that emotion category*.

    Source: https://www.affective-science.org/pubs/2023/barrett-lida-routledge.pdf

    Reply
  5. Bill Potter Avatar
    Bill Potter

    for this fieldshift, I find it very enlightening! Marvelous mind-bender!

    Under aerobic conditions, the pyruvate passes into the mitochondria where it is completely oxidized by O2 into CO2 and H2O and its chemical energy largely conserved as ATP. Pyruvate generated via aerobic glycolysis feeds into the TCA or Krebs cycle. In the absence of sufficient oxygen, the pyruvate is reduced by NADH via anaerobic glycolysis or fermentation to a wide range of products, routinely lactate in animals and ethanol in yeasts.

    Translated to philosophy
    Note: This a hypothesis from an AI, not scientific fact

    In the realm of enlightened contemplation, the essence of pure thought transcends into the ethereal plane where it is fully realized through communion with the universal spirit, its potential energy largely preserved as enlightenment. Insights generated via mindful reflection feed into the cycle of philosophical inquiry. In the absence of sufficient wisdom, the nascent idea is diminished by ignorance via unconscious reaction or base instinct to a wide spectrum of fallacies, commonly prejudice in the unexamined life and hedonism in the pleasure-seeking.

    Reply
  6. gstroke Avatar
    gstroke

    I’ve read that trans-men under testosterone therapy have minute but well-developed prostate cells growing in their vaginal canal.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32282346/

    Do you think it would be possible to induce this process artificially? It could potentially revolutionize the way transitions work.

    Reply
    1. Mike Levin Avatar
      Mike Levin

      fascinating. I’m not sure how exactly, but I bet it would be possible. There are possibly related phenomena: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett's_esophagus

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Michel-Marie SOLITO de Solis Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Proudly powered by WordPress | Privacy | © Dr. Michael Levin 2025