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Gustation or Taste

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Taste (PTC Paper)

• Diet regulation• Last chance to detect a poison prior to

ingestion

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Teeth• TeethHelp us to Digest and Break down Foods that weEat in order To be able toTaste. EnzymesAlso help usTo break down Carbohydrates

like starches and sugars

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Tongue

• Muscle– Taste flavors in food: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and

umami (msg)– Helps to digest– Speech articulation– Communication– Cleans teeth– Full of nerves and blood vessels

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Structures on the tongue

Papillae- nipple-like structures of the tongue• Circumvallate-flat mounds at back • Folliate-Folds at the sides• Filliform-cone shape all over and gives rough

appearance• Fungiform-Mushroom shaped, tip and sides

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Circumvallates

Folliate

Filliform

Fungiform

Anatomy of Tongue

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Anatomy of Taste

• Taste Receptor Cells or Taste Buds• Taste Buds occur on the soft palate and on

some Papillae - Folliate, Circumvallate, Fungiform,

• Filliform (have no taste buds) middle of the tongue is taste blind

• About 10,000 taste buds

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Taste Anatomy

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Taste Anatomy

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Central Gustatory Pathway

Taste buds - Solitary Tract to brain

(part of the Medulla), Thalamus,

and Frontal LobeCranial Nerves 7, 9,

and 10

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Taste and Nerves• Taste Neurons are determined by intensity and

quality of the flavor• Taste depends on many factors like:– Internal hunger– Peripherial, smells, chewing, habits like desserts after

meals– Culture– Genetics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=palWegLPeSA

saccharin or tasteless?

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Properties of Taste1. Taste preferences for familiar food2. Single trial learning - taste aversion3. Self-Balancing diet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI