Annoying

by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman

     This book is like an extended NPR feature, a fashionable science book for the masses.  In this way, it reminded me of Quiet.  In some cases, however, I was able to put to use my high school vocabulary and studies from courses such as anatomy and chemistry.  There is no official branch of science dealing with annoyance, but this book compiles applicable research from a varied scientific disciplines, ranging from psychology to biology.  These topical changes, as well as the conversational tone, help keep the reader's attention.
   
     General Thesis:  Sounds, smells, habits, and even tastes can annoy humans.  It is difficult to find an agreed-upon scientific definition of emotion, much less annoyance, but the basic recipe appears to include:
    1.  Uncontrollable
    2.  Distracting or unpleasant
    3.  Unpredictable, often including an unknown duration

     Skunk Spray:  An example of an annoying smell is skunk spray.  Part of the annoyance seems to be cognitive and learned.  As anecdotal evidence, one woman's mother said, "Oh, what a pleasant smell!" and to this day, her daughter does not mind the smell of skunk spray.  In a blind smell test, subjects reacted differently to identical samples labeled with cognitively unpleasant sources.  "Parmesan cheese" received a positive rating, while the same scent labeled as "vomit" received a negative reaction.
     From a more biological perspective, the smell of skunk spray comes from "sulfur-laden molecule called thiols" (p.62).  Thiols are associated with decay of living materials, such as food.  In low concentrations they can be pleasing, as in coffee or wine.
     The olfactory epithelium has receptors which receive molecules from air. If molecules remain in the receptor long enough, olfactory fatigue causes neurons to stop firing, leading the brain to believe the odor is gone.  This is why the old-fashioned tomato juice method seemed effective.  After spending so much time washing their pets, owners didn't smell the odor as strongly.  There is, however, an effective remedy, using hydrogen peroxide to create a chemical reaction.  Oxidation produces a disulfide when hydrogen peroxide reacts with the thiols.  Baking soda is also a helpful ingredient.

Fun Vocab:

• Hedonic Reversal--Enjoying something that may be considered inherently painful or characterized by negative emotions.  For example, riding a roller coaster can be a positive experience, despite the negative emotion of fear.  People willingly eat chili peppers, even though it produces a burning sensation in the mouth.
• Electrophiles--Compounds that try to share electrons, found in many chemical irritants.
• TRPA1--"trip-a-one"--transient receptor potential A1--a receptor in all invertebrates and vertebrates for chemical irritants

Annoying Features:  Typos.

• p.19--"We've gotten a lot of letters from people who put them in coworkers' offices and gotten a lot of entertainment value out of them."
• p.66--"Kingsley is trying track down..."
• p.137-138--Switches repeatedly between Ungar and Unger

Also, p.68 says, "Certainly, red i a color that elicit a kind of annoyance that matadors in Spanish bull rings are professionally familiar with."  This has been busted by MythBusters.  Bulls are color blind for red and green; the movement draws their attention.

• http://www.livescience.com/33700-bulls-charge-red.html
• http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/color-red-makes-bulls-go-ballistic/