Chapter 8: Taste -- Neuron to Behavior; Chemical Sense

basic tastes

• saltiness

• sourness

• sweetness

• bitterness 

• umami

basic tastes

• 5: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami

• more than 90% of taste cells respond to 2+ basic tastes

• absolute threshold vs difference thresholds

what are the organs of taste?

• papillae

• taste buds

papillae

• filiform (no taste)

• foliate

• vallate

• fungiform

taste buds

taste receptor cells

• apical end:

  • microvilli

• taste pore

taste receptor cells

• short lifespan

  • grow, die regenerate

  • 2 week cycle

• receptor potential

  • depolarization

  • Ca2+ channels open

  • transmitter molecule is unknown

taste papillae

fungiform

• mushroom-shaped

• 1mm diamater max

• most dense on edges of tongue

  • especially tip

• avg 6 taste buds per papilla

foliate

• folds

• along rear of tongue

• lateral to circumvallate papillae

circumvallate papillae

• circular shape on rear of tongue, forming inverted V

• 3-5 on each side

• surrounded by trench

• much larger than fungiform

factors that influence how we taste, what we eat, how much we eat

• Cultural Influences

• Expectations

• Conditioned Taste Aversions

  • Pavlovian/Classical Conditioning

    • Unconditioned Stimulus  (US)

    • Unconditioned Response (UR)

    • Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

    • Conditioned Response (CR)

    • CS/US  UR

    • CS  CR

• Presence of Others

• Cafeteria Diet

• Sensory Specific Satiety

• Unique Factors of CTA

  • Flavor novelty

  • Temporal contiguity

  • Single Trial Learning

transduction