Alliesthesia

Alliesthesia represents the modulation of sensory perception based on the internal state or "milieu intérieur" of the organism. Sensory experiences, such as pleasure or discomfort from a particular stimulus, are influenced not just by the nature or intensity of the stimulus itself but also by internal receptors, making the perception subjective. This means that an external factor capable of improving the internal state of the organism can be perceived as pleasant, while a factor that disrupts it may be considered unpleasant or even painful.

While Alliesthesia is a physiological occurrence, it is distinct from the pathological symptom termed "allesthesia." Moreover, it is also separate from "sensory-specific satiety," which is based purely on sensory cues.

Forms of Alliesthesia[edit | edit source]

Several types of alliesthesia are grounded in different sensory perceptions:

Thermic alliesthesia: Relates to thermal perceptions of heat and cold, playing a critical role in homeostatic thermoregulation.
Olfactory alliesthesia: Concerns the olfaction or sense of smell.
Gustatory alliesthesia: Pertain to taste, encompassing primary tastes like sweet, salty, bitter, acid, umami, and "calcium".
Olfacto-gustatory or Alimentary alliesthesia: Addresses tastes/flavors related to food consumption.
Visual alliesthesia/Optic Alliesthesia: Refers to vision-based perception.
Auditory alliesthesia: Concerns the sense of hearing.

Each type has two contrasting tendencies:

Negative alliesthesia: Transition of the sensation from pleasurable to unpleasurable.
Positive alliesthesia: Change of the sensation from unpleasurable to pleasurable.

Discovery[edit | edit source]

Alliesthesia's concept was pioneered by French physiologist Michel Cabanac. The initial scientific documentation on this phenomenon emerged in 1968 and was succeeded by over 40 publications in esteemed international journals, including seminal works in Nature in 1970 and Science in 1971. The term "alliesthesia" was first introduced in the annex of "Physiological Role of Pleasure", a collaborative effort with coauthor Stylianos Nicolaïdis.

The discovery of alliesthesia was initially through human subject experiments and was later validated in rats (Rattus norvegicus).

See Also[edit | edit source]

Alliesthesia Resources
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