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The Textbooks Were Wrong About How Your Tongue Works (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 2 months ago by Bebo@literature.cafe to c/science@lemmy.world

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The perception of taste is remarkably complex, not only on the tongue but in organs throughout the body.

The idea that specific tastes are confined to certain areas of the tongue is a myth that “persists in the collective consciousness despite decades of research debunking it.” Also wrong: the notion that taste is limited to the mouth.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMra2304578

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[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Where else can you taste food? In your nose?

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 24 points 2 months ago

Yes, sort of. Taste and smell are almost the same sense.

[-] popcap200@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 months ago

I always take my food as a suppository. Rectal taste buds hit different.

[-] bazus1@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

You're not wrong. Super-spicy foods are tasted twice.

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I felt this comment.

[-] explore_broaden@midwest.social 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

To our surprise, sweet taste receptors are expressed in most of the organs of the human body, including the stomach, pancreas, gut, liver, and brain

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fft2.407

There is utility to being able to detect the presence of the things different tastes are supposed to detect (protein, sugars, acid, salt, toxins) at various points in the digestive tract as well, so your body know when to do things like empty the stomach or release certain digestive enzymes in the gut. Or make you vomit if you eat something toxic.

[-] Veraxus@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Akshully… yes.

https://askabiologist.asu.edu/smell-taste

[-] alilbee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

This was a cool read, thanks for posting! That final bit about experiments on both the color and sound while chewing also affecting flavor is super interesting.