Olfaction and Taste Using Metaffordance Concepts
An ecological psychology approach to olfaction and taste using metaffordance concepts differs substantially from traditional approaches that treat smell and taste as internal sensory representations of chemical stimuli.
The central question becomes:
What information about affordances is specified by smell and taste, and how does that information guide action?
Traditional View
The standard cognitive account is:
Chemical molecules → receptors → neural representation → perception → decision → action
Taste and smell are treated primarily as sensory experiences occurring inside the brain.
Ecological View
An ecological approach asks:
What opportunities and dangers in the environment are directly detectable through chemical information?
Examples include:
- Ripe fruit affords eating.
- Rotten meat affords avoidance.
- Smoke affords escape or investigation.
- Human body odour affords social interaction.
- Fresh water affords drinking.
- Fermentation affords caution or consumption, depending on context.
The smell itself is not the primary object of perception. The affordance is.
Metaffordance Extension
The metaffordance framework suggests that affordances are not isolated opportunities for action but parts of larger systems of possibilities.
From this perspective, smell and taste become:
Information about changing affordance landscapes.
Example: The Smell of Smoke
Traditional view:
- Perceive smoke smell.
Ecological view:
- Detect a combustion event.
Metaffordance view:
- Detect transformation of the entire affordance field.
The environment is changing from:
- inhabitable
- safe
- breathable
toward:
- dangerous
- obstructed
- requiring evacuation
The smell is information about an emerging reconfiguration of affordances.
Taste as Affordance Sampling
Taste is unusual because it requires direct contact with the substance being evaluated.
From a metaffordance perspective, tasting is not primarily perception but:
Active probing of affordances.
The organism samples a small amount of material to determine whether it is:
- edible
- nutritious
- toxic
- spoiled
- medicinal
Taste functions as a local test of larger affordance possibilities.
A bitter taste often indicates:
Do not proceed with the larger affordance.
A sweet taste often indicates:
The eating affordance remains open.
Nested Affordances
Consider a cup of coffee.
The smell affords:
- approach
- drinking preparation
- social interaction
- wakefulness expectations
The taste then confirms or modifies those affordances.
The sequence becomes:
- Smell → possible affordances
- Taste → validation of affordances
- Consumption → realization of affordances
The organism continuously updates its metaffordance structure.
Temporal Affordances
Chemical information is particularly effective at revealing events distant in both space and time.
Vision often tells us:
What is here now.
Smell often tells us:
What happened recently.
Examples include:
- rain approaching
- a predator passing through
- food becoming spoiled
- a fire beginning elsewhere
Olfaction may therefore be especially important for perceiving future affordances.
The smell of leaking gas specifies a future danger before visual evidence appears.
Social Metaffordances
Human odours can specify:
- illness
- stress
- emotional state
- kinship
- reproductive status
The organism perceives not merely a smell but a changing social affordance structure.
For example, sickness odour may reduce:
- approach affordances
- food-sharing affordances
- intimacy affordances
while increasing:
- avoidance affordances
A Metaffordance Formulation
Olfaction and taste are systems for detecting chemically specified changes in affordance structure. Smell provides information about distal and emerging affordances, while taste provides information about immediately realizable affordances through direct sampling. Together they enable organisms to navigate dynamic affordance landscapes across multiple temporal and spatial scales.
This formulation places olfaction and taste alongside vision, audition, and touch as information systems for perceiving not objects or sensations, but the evolving structure of possibilities for action.
Within the broader metaffordance framework, organisms are not simply detecting individual affordances but are continuously tracking higher-order patterns of affordance creation, transformation, and loss.
Paul Treffner
metaffordance.com