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Gustation, The Act or Sensation of Tasting

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Head and Neck

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Abstract

This chapter on taste starts with a trivial pursuit to approach the difficulty of the definition of taste with the consequence that the four tastes that are normally discerned should rather be considered a continuum of tastes. Attention is paid to the transmission of the taste signal, both its physiological and neuroanatomical aspects. Taste changes during pregnancy, diseases are treated, and clove, oregano and chilli are discussed. Taste is related to tongue reflexes and mechanics. Taste receptors are even found in the pharynx and start of the larynx. The chapter ends with the taste manipulations.

Taste seems to have two chief uses:

1. It invites us by pleasure to repair the losses which result from the use of life.

2. It assists us to select from among the substances offered by nature, those which are alimentary.

In this choice taste is powerfully aided by the sense of smell…; as a general principle, it may be laid down that nutritious substances are repulsive neither to the taste nor to the smell. It is difficult to say in exactly what the faculty of taste consists. It is more complicated than it appears. [Brillat-Savarin (1848), The physiology of taste: Meditation II, Taste, Definition of taste]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Signals and Systems, MIRA, University Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Enrico Marani & Ciska Heida

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  1. Enrico Marani
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  2. Ciska Heida
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Marani, E., Heida, C. (2018). Gustation, The Act or Sensation of Tasting. In: Head and Neck. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92105-1_5

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