The New Childrens Encyclopedia

TASTE

It is now thought to be a myth that

you can taste particular flavors at

different places on your tongue. We

have five basic tastes: sweet, sour,

salty, bitter, and umami (a savory

taste), and these can usually be

picked up all over your tongue.

The gustatory cortex

is the taste center for

analyzing tastes.

Smells are

sorted by the

olfactory bulb

in the nose.

Taste sensors are found

on the surface of the

tongue and in the

lining of the mouth.

 SENSE ORGANS This view inside the

head shows the position of the smell and taste

organs. They send nerve messages to the brain.

TELL ME MORE...

SMELL

Your nose can recognize up to 10,000

different smells. Receptors high up in the

nasal cavity pick up smell molecules in the

air that you breathe in and send signals to

your brain. If your brain hasn’t come

across the smell before, it will remember

it so that you recognize it the next time.

 TASTE RECEPTORS
The surface of your tongue is covered
with tiny bumps (papillae). Some of
these contain taste buds, made up of
taste cells that have tiny taste hairs.
These hairs detect chemicals in food,
and your brain tells you the flavor.

O Smell and taste work together. The

flavor of food depends more on smell

than taste. This is why it’s difficult to

taste food if you have a blocked nose.

O
 Your senses of smell and taste

protect you. If you smell smoke, it

warns you of fire. You can smell if

food has spoiled. Poisonous food

often tastes bitter to make sure you

spit it out.

O
 Children have around 10,000 taste buds, but the number of

taste buds declines with age.

O
 People who can’t smell are called “anosmic.”

O
 If you only had one eye from birth, the world would look

two-dimensional.

O
 There are 100 touch receptors in each of your fingertips.

O
 Girls usually have more taste buds than boys.

O
 The sense of smell is thought to be 20,000 times more

powerful than the sense of taste.

FAST FACTS

Surface of the

tongue.

Supporting

cell

Nerve fiber

SENSING THE WORLD

283

Taste hair

Taste cell

THE HUMAN BODY

Diagram of taste bud