Can a taste be identified by any part of the tongue?
Our sense of taste is the sense that enables us
to recognize flavors, and this task is helped by our sense of smell. Therefore, when we have a cold, food seems as
if it has less flavor.
Basically, as humans, we are able to identify
four flavors: salty, sour, sweet and bitter.
The
taste that we obtain when we eat something is a combination of all of these,
perceived through the taste buds that cover the surface of our tongue.
However,
the taste buds are specialized in detecting specific flavors, and they cannot
identify any other flavors that we consume.
So, can a taste be identified by any
part of the tongue or is it only identified by a certain area of the tongue?
In pairs, we are prepared four concentrated solutions: one with sugar, one with salt, one with lemon juice and one with instant coffee, adding a spoonful of each to four different glasses.
Then, students have put each other a drop on a specific point on his/her classmate's tongue without them knowing the place or the substance used. Afterwards, they have marked the position on the drawing of the tongue.
Finally, we have tried to prove our initial hypothesis. Taste sense is certainly dependent of different gustative receptor cells able to percebre the different chemical substances which contain food.
Conlusion: Our hypothesis was confirmed. And you can see it here
