Anatomy of taste, or how taste buds work. Taste, tactile and olfactory sensations
Taste sensations, like olfactory sensations, are determined by the chemical properties of things. As for smells, for taste sensations there is no complete,
objective classification.
From the complex of sensations caused by taste substances, four main qualities can be distinguished - salty, sour, sweet and bitter.
Taste sensations are usually accompanied by olfactory sensations, and sometimes also sensations of pressure, heat, cold and pain. Acrid, astringent, tart
taste is determined by a whole complex of different sensations. It is precisely this more or less complex complex that usually determines the taste of food, which
Taste sensations arise when the taste areas are exposed to soluble and diffusible substances, i.e. substances that have
relatively low molecular weight. The main taste area is the mucous membrane of the tongue, especially its tip, edges and base;
the middle of the tongue and its lower surface lack taste sensitivity.
Different taste regions have different sensitivities to the sensations of salty, sour, sweet and bitter. The tongue is most sensitive to:
for sweet - the tip, for sour - the edges, and for bitter - the base. Therefore, it is assumed that for each of the four basic taste sensations there are
special organs.
The same applies to taste general laws, as on other senses, in particular the law of adaptation.
The compensation process plays a major role in taste sensations, i.e. muffling of some taste sensations (salty) by others (sour). For example,
the boundary value established under certain conditions for bitter in 0.004% solutions of quinine in the presence of table salt rises to
0.01% quinine solution, and in the presence of hydrochloric acid- up to 0.026%.
Along with compensation in the field of taste sensations, contrast phenomena are also observed. For example, the sensation of the sweet taste of a sugar solution
aggravated by admixtures of a small amount of table salt. Distilled water after rinsing the mouth with potassium chloride or
It tastes distinctly sweet with dilute sulfuric acid. All these facts indicate the presence in the area of taste of interaction processes within
even one sense organ. In general, the phenomena of interaction, adaptation, temporary aftereffect of a chemical stimulus, not only adequate, but also
inadequate, appear very clearly in the area of taste.
Taste plays a significant role in tuning emotional state, through the vegetative nervous system taste, along with the sense of smell, affects
thresholds of other receptor systems, for example, visual and hearing acuity, the state of skin sensitivity and proprioceptors.
Taste sensations generated by chemicals coming from the external environment, affecting vegetative functions, can cause a pleasant
or an unpleasant emotional background of well-being. The custom of combining festivals with feasts indicates that the practice takes into account the ability
taste sensitivity associated with the effect on the autonomic nervous system influences the sensory tone of overall well-being.
The role of taste sensations in the eating process is determined by the state of need for food. As this need intensifies, the demand decreases:
a hungry person will eat less tasty food; a well-fed person will be tempted only by what seems tempting to him in terms of taste.
Like olfactory sensations associated with effects on the autonomic nervous system, taste sensitivity can also produce a variety of
more or less sharp and pleasant sensations. Although a normal person with significantly developed social and cultural interests does not live for
in order to eat, but eats in order to live and work. Therefore, subtle shades of taste sensations play a very important role in the system of human behavior.
subordinate role.
Taste sensations are a reflection of certain chemical properties of food objects and general condition internal environment of the body.
Taste sensations arise when the taste analyzer is exposed to soluble and diffusible substances.
The main properties of taste sensations are: quality, intensity, reaction time, spatial localization.
The spatial localization of the taste sensation depends on the area of irritation of the oral cavity and tongue not only by chemical, but also by other properties of the food object (mechanical, chemical, temperature).
The reaction time to basic taste sensations varies within the same person.
The intensity of various taste sensations is unique to each of the qualities of taste sensations.
The main question in the study of taste sensations is the question of the qualities of taste sensations. There are four main qualities - salty, sour, sweet and bitter. The most sensitive are: to sweet and salty - the tip of the tongue, to sour - its edges, to bitter - the base.
Complex taste is the result of the interaction of the taste sensations themselves (sweet, salty, sour, bitter) with temperature, tactile, and kinesthetic sensations. Each of the complex tastes can be decomposed into its own taste and foreign qualities. The basic taste qualities are further indecomposable. The sweetness of different sweet solutions varies only in intensity. The complex taste of the acrid is a combination of irritation of taste and pain receptors in the mouth. Pungent taste is a combination of a strong olfactory taste with the actual taste. Astringent taste is a combination of strong irritation of tactile receptors in the oral cavity with taste.
Taste sensations are closely interconnected with the emotional sphere of a person. Like the sense of smell, taste sensitivity can evoke a variety of pleasant and unpleasant emotions.
Forms of interaction of taste sensations include: fusion and mixing of taste sensations, masking of some taste sensations by others, compensation of taste sensations.
The fusion of taste sensations is the formation of a new taste sensation through the interaction of two dissimilar tastes. Both taste qualities and (for example, in chocolate, the fusion of sweet and bitter) differ in the flavor mixture, which was obtained by merging flavoring substances.
Sweet and sour, sour and salty, sweet and bitter qualities merge when interacting. Bitter and sour tastes do not merge, and only in some cases is it possible to merge bitter with salty tastes.
Mixing of taste sensations is the formation of a new taste sensation as a result of the interaction of dissimilar tastes, in which it is impossible to separate the mixture of taste qualities into its components. Such complex flavor mixtures are found in everyday cooked foods.
Masking of taste sensations is the interaction of dissimilar tastes, in which one of the taste qualities is hidden or suppressed by the intensity of other taste qualities. Stronger components of the flavor mixture excite some areas of the taste analyzer, inhibiting others. Masking of taste sensations is observed when a large concentration of bitter substances interacts with any flavor mixture.
Compensation for taste sensations is the mutual neutralization of taste qualities by any mixture. A specific taste sensation does not arise, since there is mutual inhibition of stimuli. With the exception of bitter substances, all taste qualities can be compensated for at a certain combination of their intensity.
When two or three flavoring substances are neutralized and mutually compensated, a feeling of unpleasant musty taste arises.
With the sequential interaction of taste sensations, the phenomenon of taste contrast is observed. A person experiences either a sour sensation or a bitter sensation, while each sensation is alternately inhibited and excited.
Taste is subject to the same general laws as other senses, in particular the law of adaptation. When chemicals were applied to certain areas of the tongue, it was found that taste sensations were subject to rapid (30 seconds) and complete adaptation. Thus, sensitivity to salty foods decreases by 300 times during this time, and to sweets by 20 times. The change in thresholds for sour and bitter is less pronounced. IN natural conditions adaptation does not occur, since as a result of tongue movements there is a constant change in the chemical stimulation of individual receptors.
Who doesn't know the desire to eat something tasty? Some people like sweets, some prefer sour, and for some people, serve something salty or spicy.
Researchers claim that not only the food itself, but also its taste brings the body great benefit and has a healing effect.
Taste buds, what are they?
What these eating habits depend on is sometimes very difficult to explain. Science deals with this, and even a new direction has emerged that studies the physiology of taste and taste buds - taste therapy.
Tongue receptors, which are located on the human tongue, on the walls of the pharynx, palate, and tonsils, help us distinguish taste. Information from the receptors is transmitted along the fibers of the glossopharyngeal, facial and other nerves to the cortex cerebral hemispheres and there the sensation of one or another taste is formed. 
Taste buds are special cells that are located in the bulbs, and the bulbs are on the taste buds. Taste buds line the surface of the tongue.
But taste cells are also located on the walls of the pharynx, tonsils and help us feel all the delights of the food we eat.
Information that the brain receives not only from taste buds, but also from olfactory, thermal, tactile, and nervous ones helps to get a complete picture of taste.
You have probably noticed more than once that during illness, with nasal congestion and congestion, the taste of food is distorted, it seems completely tasteless to us.
The perception of taste is not complete without teeth; nerve endings on the roots of teeth, like pressure sensors, transmit information to the brain about the hardness and structure of food.
Dentists say that if the nerve endings are removed along with the teeth, then the sensation of the taste of food changes.
Taste buds do not perceive well or distort the taste of food if the body temperature is above 38 degrees or, on the contrary, very low. Different combination products often changes the perception of taste.
Let's say the taste of wine is enhanced by the influence of cheese. If you eat something sweet before taking a sip of wine, you may experience completely unexpected taste sensations.
The perception of taste is also impaired from frequent burns of the mucous membranes of the mouth and tongue, when a person takes too hot food, and from chemical burns, when alcohol or the like of alcohol is taken in excessive doses.
In order to keep taste buds healthy longer, doctors do not recommend giving children too hot, spicy food, especially stuffed with food additives, under the influence of which a violation of the sense of taste may occur.
Taste receptors work only in the presence of saliva, which dissolves dry substances and activates taste buds; in addition, saliva washes away food debris, preparing the tongue for new taste sensations.
But the most important function of saliva is that it binds acids and protects the taste buds from harmful effects on them.
Main types of taste
Traditionally, there were four main tastes: bitter, sweet, sour and salty, as you can see in the picture.
It was believed that receptors that recognize individual tastes are located in groups, so sweet is on the tip of the tongue, sour on the sides...
Modern functional and molecular data show that the receptors are distributed over the entire surface of the tongue, but differ in density.
Based on these data, we can say with confidence that the “language map” presented above is an erroneous, outdated idea.
What is umami? In the 20th century, in the countries of Southeast Asia, America and Europe, in connection with the production of a food additive called , which changes the taste of food, they began to highlight a new taste - umami.
Umami is the taste of monosodium glutamate and is considered the fifth taste. Experts explain it differently, some say that it resembles meat broth, others that it has an astringent-piquant taste.
Sweet taste felt under the influence of sugar, it is associated with tenderness and respect, and its lack in the body creates the presence of anxiety.
Sour taste depends on the content of inorganic and organic acids in food, it creates the impression of confidence and satisfaction. The lack of this taste gives rise to anger and anger.
Salty taste caused by the presence of inorganic ions, it evokes associations of fullness and calmness, and its absence gives rise to internal fear.
Bitter taste due to the presence of alkaloids, it is associated with love and joy, and its absence leads to devastation.
Spicy taste causes determination, while its lack in the body develops sadness.
The following facts are also interesting: our tongue senses sweet taste the least of the listed tastes. To determine it, the concentration of sugar must exceed 1:200, for salt 1:400, for acid 1:130,000, for bitterness 1:2,000,000. But to determine the taste of a substance, it must be dissolved; this function in the body is performed by saliva.
But in the East, six receptor sensations have long been accepted. Their bitter taste is further divided into two. There are purely bitter ones, like hina (we often say that cucumber is bitter) and hot ones, which include mustard, pepper, and radish.
Modern experts offer a more extensive classification. In addition to the above, there are mint, tart, metallic, alkaline, and even the taste of fat and water, but this is not official yet.
The taste of fat was discovered quite recently by the Japanese; they discovered that rats perfectly recognize lipids with their taste buds.
An interesting fact is that in the human tongue there are more than 30 receptors that determine bitter taste, but there is only one for sweet, and only one for umami. In total, our tongue has about 10 thousand taste receptors!
Mixing tastes
Taste sensations can be pure or mixed. The receptors of the tongue feel the bitter taste in the same way, regardless of the history of its origin, only its effect is emphasized - weak or strong. That's why we never talk about several types of sweet, or bitter, or salty. We feel well either the brightness of the taste or its dullness. And here it is important to emphasize that only salt, while other salty tastes differ in intensity.
If several pure tastes are mixed, the result is mixed tastes. And then our receptors capture a variety of sensations that either like or cause rejection. The perception of taste improves the quality of human life, enriching it with new flavor colors.
Taste therapy is a very pleasant type of treatment, where you can prescribe the treatment yourself, because it is just eating, albeit with a specific purpose.
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Health to you, dear readers!
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Kotova I.B., Kanarkevich O.S.
Psychology of taste and perception
Today it is difficult to find in foreign and domestic psychology studies that would reveal the role of taste sensations in human life and in the formation of mature consciousness. Meanwhile, the acquired experience of taste always “works” within the life context and affects the organization of human behavior and life support. A meager taste experience narrows a person’s consciousness and does not “enlighten” life with gastronomic pleasures. A “feeling” person organizes his life more productively and brings variety and beauty into it, becoming more functional. The aesthetics of food spiritualizes our selfhood, makes a person more sophisticated and cultured. Food culture can be considered as one of the criteria for an intelligent person, which gives his life naturalness and fullness.
It cannot be ignored that nutrition affects the state of the body and bodily functions, the levels of human consciousness, including bodily consciousness, which cannot be considered outside the context of the development of a person as a whole as an individual. Delicious and reasonable nutrition provides psychological comfort, environmental balance and life expectancy, emotional tone, psychosomatic harmony and is a necessary condition to support the process of tissue regeneration and optimal energy activity.
Taste sensations have a conscious and unconscious impact on the physical and mental state of a person. The psychology of taste pleasures and the philosophy of gastronomy found themselves outside the field of scientific reflection. Rare information about them can be obtained from the book “Physiology of Pleasures” by P. Mantegazza, published in Moscow back in 1890. In it, the author tries to give an analytical outline of the pleasures of taste and talk “about some amusements based on the pleasures of the sense of taste and the physiognomy of a gourmet during the great task of absorbing food.”
P. Mantegazza sought to show that “... taste sensations have their own melody and their own harmony: all tactile taste sensations produced in the oral cavity by the same piece are grouped into one common taste chord, i.e. into something harmonious. Meanwhile, the escaping impression of what was swallowed, combined with the next impression, produces a melody. Diversity comes from whether these impressions are homogeneous, differing only in degree, or whether they consist of completely different properties. The first part of gastronomy as a science that discusses the preparation of food is based on the harmony of the tastes of a substance. The last, main part of this science is built on the melody of tastes, which deals with the sequence of dishes among themselves and the combination of wines with each other.” From this he concludes that “A good dinner is a concert composed of harmony and melodies and based on the immutable laws of taste, almost mathematically determined and brought by the genius of the culinary artist to the apogee of its perfection.”
P. Mantegazza’s thoughts on the relationship between taste preferences and mental types of people are also of interest. He emphasizes that “... people who are tasty by instinct can be kind-hearted, but those who think about the composition of their dinners in advance are, for the most part, already incorrigible egoists. Delicacy and gluttony often go hand in hand with a dull and trivial system of thought and feeling.”
In an effort to understand the wide and mysterious field of sensations of taste, P. Mantegazza said that the source of taste pleasures is the temperature of food, the degree of liquid or density of food in the mouth, its smell, the taste habits of certain peoples, personal idiosyncrasies, etc. . He considered it a physiological law that in the sensations of taste, cold delivers much more pleasure, purely tactile, than heat, which in itself does not constitute an element of pleasure, but can only aggravate to highest degree specific sensation of taste. From this it was concluded that the same food or the same drink can change its taste value with a change in temperature, that the pleasant sensation of drinking is much less complex, gentler and more fleeting than the pleasure produced by dense food.
Fortunately, says P. Mantegazza, almost all people agree on their tastes when it comes to food that compensates for damage to the body, and disputes between gastronomes concern only luxurious nutritional accessories. Therefore, oysters, snails, caviar or wormwood do not at all constitute a necessary need for humans, although they have their admirers and enemies everywhere. The ears of grain plants, on the contrary, like the meat of herbivores, accompany man in all his emigrations around the globe. The habit gives the inhabitants of Oceania a desire to eat ants, the Chinese - to the stickiness of their favorite birds' nests, the Americans of Florida - to dog meat [ibid., p. 70-71].
The enjoyment of food is connected with the immediate vitality of a person, with his bodily needs and capabilities, with the development of bodily consciousness. Food brings a person back to pleasant, healthy sensations. Food helps a person live in the world of the present, and not of illusions and fantasies. Contact with one’s feelings helps a person to accept the various components of his “I”, often polar in content, to understand his nature and determine the direction of his life at his own discretion. Taste sensations improve bodily awareness and quality of life, helping to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual.
It is the culture of food that contributes to the education of a gourmet. Taste sensations and perceptions are vitally important for humans. Restaurant specialists should have developed scientific ideas about taste sensations and perceptions, their nature and functions, relationships with the sense of smell, taste sensitivity and its thresholds, age-related changes, adaptation, interaction of taste stimuli, the origin of taste preferences, their selective selectivity, connections with cultural traditions and habits, with gastronomic preferences, about the strengthening and suppression of taste stimuli, about the occurrence of taste aversions, anomalies of taste sensitivity and its causes, etc.
Each person has his own characteristic perception of taste. In children it is unformed, and therefore all its characteristics bear the imprint of immaturity. But children, through trial and error, learn to recognize
olfactory and gustatory sensations, which food should be chosen, which one they like best, i.e. They are able to choose a balanced diet for themselves and at the right time switch to the food that they need. Parents should make sure that the process of eating in children is as positive as possible, since they are the main transmitters of ideas about eating behavior patterns.
It is the adults who have the task of determining the diet and forming attitudes towards eating. This ritual associated with eating is one of the first in a child’s personal experience. Its emotional tone shapes not only the child’s attitude towards food, but also his attitude towards the outside world and his immediate environment.
The time a child eats is the beginning of his identification family ties. At the moments of eating, the child develops a holistic image of the family and involvement in it. Mealtime is a fertile time when a child learns to experience a sense of gratitude and psychological safety. Gradually, eating becomes a significant life event in which both the child and parents participate together. “Psychological stroking” of a child while eating creates a good psychotherapeutic effect.
It is known that between the sense of taste and smell of a person there is functional connection. Therefore, they are the source of a single sensory impression. Deterioration of the sense of smell leads to deterioration and even loss of taste.
Taste sensations arise when taste buds are stimulated by chemicals. They occur in humans when exposed to soluble chemicals that have a relatively low molecular weight. It is not always possible to determine the taste of a particular substance, since taste sensations depend on their concentration.
Smell and taste are types of chemical sensitivity. The significant differences between them are that the sense of smell occurs when exposed to chemicals at a distance, i.e. refers to distant receptors, and for the occurrence of taste sensations, direct contact of the chemical substance with the receptor is required.
The act of smelling food is obligatory and often unconscious. Every day a person takes up to 20 thousand inhalations and exhalations, which bring him various smells. Olfactory receptors are a small bundle consisting of 5 million receptor cells that are located in the internal region of the body, in the olfactory epithelium, located in the upper part of the nasal cavity.
Smelling receptor cells selectively respond to odors and are instantly transmitted to the brain. For the perception of smell, it is necessary for the molecules carrying the aroma to reach these receptors. Receptor cells in the nasal cavity send signals through axon fibers that form the olfactory nerve to the olfactory bulb, which is located in the lower anterior part of the brain. From there, signals are sent to the olfactory cortex in the temporal lobe, as well as to various lower-level parts of the brain, especially parts of the limbic system associated with memory and emotions. Structures that receive olfactory input include the amygdala, hippocampus, piriform cortex (base of the temporal lobes), and hypothalamus. A neocortical region responsive to olfactory input and a region in the lateral posterior orbital frontal cortex were discovered by Tanabe and co-workers.
Scientists have repeatedly made attempts to identify primary odors and categorize them. Olfactory stimuli are airborne molecules of volatile substances that are soluble in water or fat. It was found that the higher the volatility of a substance, the stronger smell. But here, too, some important exceptions are found. It was found that smell depends on a number of properties of odorant molecules: shape, vibration frequency, speed of passage through olfactory receptors. The perceived strength of an odor is significantly influenced by adaptation. A short exposure period is sufficient for the odor to become indistinguishable.
The smell and taste of food are always interrelated: by reducing the smell of food, you can reduce its attractiveness.
Taste and smell can function as one system search and selection of food. Vision also plays a large role in the development of taste sensations. We not only taste and inhale the taste of food, but also admire its appearance. A beautifully decorated dish evokes a complex range of feelings: aesthetic pleasure, admiration, admiration, intense desire, increased need for food and the creation of a sustainable image. >I\
The smell and appearance of food not only contribute to the sensation of taste, but also significantly change it. Enjoying food requires the full functioning and interaction of taste, olfactory and visual receptors. The source of diverse and complex taste sensations are the four primary tastes: sweet, salty, bitter and sour. The rest of the taste sensations are their combinations.
For a long time, scientists from around the world have been looking for special nerve fibers that are responsible for the sensations of each type of taste (McBurne, Gent, 1979). Linda Bartoshuk tends to identify a fifth taste - the taste of water (Bartoshuk, 1993). She found that human emotional reactions to taste are quite stable. This is probably why a person feels the desire to eat his favorite dishes, familiar from childhood, which are directly related to those who prepared them, to the dishes and to those who shared our meal.
Beidler suggests distinguishing between the concepts of “taste” and “taste.” Salty and sour tastes linked to evolution biological species and their safety. Substances that are acidic in their chemical structure and properties often have a sour taste. Scientists theorize that the ability to perceive sour tastes evolved as a warning against eating rotten food. It is known that the composition of decomposition products consists mainly of acids.
Salt is involved in many chemical reactions, primarily in water-salt metabolism and performs an adaptive function. Salt sensitivity is seen as part of a control and regulatory system. The normal salt intake for an adult is 1-3 g, but for many people it can reach 8 g or more, which is harmful to the body.
The ability to perceive sweet and bitter tastes arose in humans later. These are the tastes associated with food. Sweet taste is the most attractive. Babies exhibit taste sensitivity from the first days of life and prefer sweet liquids to tasteless ones. It is inherent in substances that have the greatest nutritional value. Bitter tastes usually come from substances that are harmful to the body or poisonous.
To date, there is no scientifically based classification of taste sensations. Taste sensations can be accompanied not only by olfactory sensations, but also by sensations of cold, heat, pressure, and pain.
Taste sensations are subject to the same psychophysiological laws as all other sensations, i.e. have absolute and differential sensitivity thresholds, adaptation, interaction, contrast and aftereffect. They are the initial moment of the sensorimotor reaction and require differentiation, the selection of individual sensory qualities within perception, i.e. inclusion of conscious activity.
The main taste area is the mucous membrane of the tongue, especially its edges and base; as for the middle of the tongue and its lower surface, they do not have taste sensitivity. Taste receptors are taste buds. They are located in small pits and grooves of the oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, as well as on the inner surface of the cheeks, on the soft palate. Largest quantity taste buds are located on the surface of the tongue. The number of taste buds in humans ranges from 9,000 to 10,000. Clusters of taste buds lie within small elevations called papillae. There are four types of papillae: mushroom-shaped, filiform, leaf-shaped, and grooved. They differ from each other in shape and location.
The taste bud consists of 50-150 taste cells, each of which ends in a microvilli, the tip of which lies in the taste pore and comes into direct contact with a solution of a chemical substance acting on the surface of the tongue. Taste cells are constantly renewed at intervals of several days. Most often, researchers talk about the restoration of the taste receptor after a week. This is exactly how long it takes to restore taste sensitivity after the tongue is burned by very hot food or drink.
Taste cells are among the fastest aging cells human body. The sensitivity of a taste cell directly depends on its age.
As we age, the replacement of taste cells slows down. Gradually, there are much fewer of them, which causes a change in taste sensitivity: it decreases to sweet and salty, and increases to bitter and sour (Oo^"al, 1981). Perhaps that is why adults more often prefer spicy foods than children. The rate of decline odor sensitivity is much higher than the rate of decline in taste sensitivity.
Taste receptors are connected to different nerve fibers. Until now, scientists do not know how exactly the taste signal is transmitted to the brain. It is known that the nerve impulse comes from the oral cavity to the thalamus, and from there to several cortical zones located mainly at the base of the somatosensory cortex of the parietal lobe, i.e. in the same place where information about stimulation of the skin of the face and oral cavity is received. Taste sensations arise in a person when chewing food, which requires reflex actions that occur during the innervation of the structures of the brain stem.
Taste sensitivity depends on many stimulus factors. We are talking, first of all, about oral chemistry. Saliva, which dissolves food, is a complex mixture of chemical compounds containing both inorganic substances (chlorides, phosphates, sulfates, carbonates) and organic compounds(proteins
And digestive enzymes), as well as carbon dioxide. The threshold values of taste sensitivity are also influenced by the chemical nature of the stimulus and its concentration. Taste thresholds also depend on what the person ate before they were measured, the temperature of the chemical stimulus, the location and area of the stimulated area, the age of the subjects, and testing procedures.
When a substance enters the oral cavity, the activity of temperature, tactile, pain and taste receptors is activated. These facts indicate the presence of interaction processes in the area of taste within even one sense organ. The phenomena of interaction, adaptation, and temporary aftereffect of a chemical stimulus appear very clearly in the area of taste. It has been established that if a person stops tasting food on one side of the tongue, then the other side becomes hypersensitive.
The life experience of many generations of people convinces us that some types of food and some drinks taste better hot, others taste better cold, i.e. the taste of certain types of food depends on its temperature, as well as on formed habits and temperature preferences, which are the result of personal experience in organizing food regimes. The taste of food is no less influenced by the individual characteristics of a person, depending on his age and ethnic characteristics, family traditions, personal experience, economic opportunities, learned food codes. There is evidence that older people dislike bitter-tasting foods more than younger people. Drinking alcohol and smoking also lead to a decrease in taste sensitivity.
The compensation process plays a major role in taste sensations, i.e. drowning out some taste sensations by others. Along with compensation in the field of taste sensations, contrast phenomena are also observed. The front surface of the tongue has the greatest sensitivity to sweet taste, since there are more than 200 taste buds on the tip of the tongue and on the sides. It doesn’t take much time for a taste reaction to occur. Adding a concentrated or salty substance to water requires only 1/10 of a second for the corresponding sensation to occur. The back and back are most sensitive to acidity. side surfaces tongue, to salty taste - the anterior and lateral ones, and to bitter taste - the soft palate (Collings, 1974).
Sensitivity to certain taste stimuli is highly individual, and threshold values vary different people differ quite significantly. A trend toward decreased taste sensitivity (i.e., increased threshold) becomes noticeable around age 60 (Schifman, 1997). But an increase in the threshold (and a general decrease in taste sensitivity) is not at all a necessary consequence of aging: some people even in old age retain an almost unchanged ability to perceive taste sensations (Weiffenbach, 1991).
A person’s taste is formed as a result of the acquired sensory experience that occurs when a person’s taste buds are irritated, which cause activation of the pathways, right up to the area of the brain responsible for this type of sensation. The question of the meaning of taste experience is captured in the Russian proverb: “there are no comrades for taste and color.” Modifications of this proverb are found among almost all peoples of the world.
Taste sensations largely depend on a person’s need for food: the higher the need, the lower the requirements for food. Hence the justice is clear
proverbs: “The hungry cannot eat.” Taste sensations cause pleasant or unpleasant sensations, changing the emotional background and, accordingly, coloring a person’s well-being.
Some illnesses, injuries, dietary habits, and medications can significantly affect taste thresholds and change taste sensations. The most common pathologies and dysfunctions of the taste system include the very rare ageusia or agestia (from the Greek geustos, meaning “to taste”) - loss of taste or taste perception; hypergeusia - increased taste sensitivity and phantogeusia - the sensation of a specific taste (sweet, sour, salty, metallic or other unpleasant in the absence of real stimulation of the oral cavity).
Perhaps the most common pathology of taste sensitivity is dysgeusia, a disorder of taste perception in which a pleasant-tasting substance is perceived as unpalatable. According to Lolles, most sufferers of this disease usually complain of a constant metallic or sour taste in the mouth, as well as a burning sensation in the absence of substances in the oral cavity that can cause such taste sensations.
It is paradoxical that in such patients the perception of the four primary tastes can be completely normal. The causes of such dysfunctions of the chemosensory system can be viral and endocrine diseases, gum disease, unfavorable ecology, taking certain medications, lack of vitamins, as well as zinc, copper and nickel salts, poor nutrition, etc.
Maximum sensitivity to most substances is observed in a certain temperature range - 22-36 degrees. Salty food tastes saltier if it is heated or cooled to 22-32 degrees. Sugary drinks taste sweeter if they are chilled to 22 degrees.
Food must be prepared so that it tastes optimal at the temperature at which it is served.
Scientists have long been concerned with the question of how much an adult's taste preferences depend on the cultural influences they experienced as children. To answer this question, studies were conducted on the taste preferences of children from different cultures. Children who grew up without sweets showed traditional cravings for sweets immediately after they were introduced to them. It turned out that the formation of taste preferences is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.
Many specific sauces, spices, and seasonings are of ethnic origin and determined by cultural traditions. Representatives of some cultures eat what others consider inedible. The habit of many bitter solutions (alcoholic drinks, coffee, tea) is acquired during the learning process. It is believed that the gastronomic tastes of an adult are determined in part by what he ate during his formative years.
A person can not only experience cravings and a special predilection for a particular taste, but also disgust if he tastes the food under unfavorable circumstances. The human sensory system plays the role of an adaptive taster. A person’s enjoyment and enjoyment of food depends not only on the taste sensations it evokes.
For a person, food that has a specific combination of sensory impressions is attractive. Experts call such combinations a “bouquet”. It depends on the aroma, consistency, temperature, color and even the sound that occurs when biting. These factors, along with a person’s habits towards a particular food, as well as his condition (whether he is hungry or full, tired or rested), determine his assessment of the taste qualities of what he eats. Hunger sharply increases the sensitivity of taste.
Harvey Schiffman gives epithets that are used to describe the consistency of food: hard, soft, crumbly, crispy, hard, brittle, viscous, sticky, sticky, thick, liquid, oily, airy, fibrous, layered, grainy, granular, fibrous, lumpy, pasty, creamy, elastic, juicy, porous, viscous, jelly-like, homogeneous, elastic and others.
The main purpose of the sensory system of taste perception is to regulate consumption. healthy products and in avoiding the consumption of toxins. Glass, who studied taste perception, came to the conclusion that a person, despite his cultural conservatism in matters of nutrition, is too adaptive to safely choose the right diet for himself based on the “bouquet” and his own attraction to a particular food. The feeling of fullness is a reliable protector against overeating for a person, and hunger is a reliable protector against an inadequate diet.
One of the first researchers of perception, including taste, was J. Gibson. It was he who isolated, identified and classified perceptual systems in the following order: basic orientation system, haptic, odor-gustatory, auditory and visual systems.
Taste sensitivity diversifies a person’s life with pleasant and even unforgettable sensations and impressions.
Literature
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Taste sensations perform important role in human life. It is taste that determines the quality characteristics of food, provides the ability to sense and distinguish Chemical properties substances entering oral cavity.
The irritants of taste are sweet, salty, sour, bitter. At the same time, taste buds located in various parts tongues react differently to the chemical properties of substances.
Thus, the tip of the tongue perceives predominantly sweet, the back of the tongue reacts more to bitter, and the left and right edges are sensitive to sour.
The peripheral taste buds of the tongue are connected to the neurons of the sensory ganglia of the cranial nerves. The central sections of the brain stem are represented by the sensory nuclei of these nerves, from which taste signals enter the thalamus and further into the neocortex big brain. The taste system is connected via nerve pathways to the olfactory nerve center of the brain. That is why, when a runny nose appears, the sense of smell deteriorates and taste sensitivity decreases.
Olfactory sensations carry out psychophysiological functions that allow one to sense and distinguish by smell. chemical compounds, in the air. The sense of smell plays an important role in establishing contact with various objects. environment and other people. The olfactory sensory system includes peripheral elements and higher parts of the brain.
It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that tactile sensations are the result of processing information received through stimulation of tactile, temperature, pain, muscle and joint receptors. This type sensations are provided by the work of the cutaneous and proprioceptive sensory systems and higher departments brain. The ability to touch plays a huge role in the lives of people who have lost sight, hearing or speech.
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