The papillae are distributed throughout all areas of the tongue, and in adjacent structures of the palate and throat. Each taste bud contains 50 to 75 receptor cells that are always in different stages of a 7-10-day regenerative cycle" (Taste 2006:16). In addition, the tongue contains receptors that are more sensitive to sweet and salty stimuli, while those on the palate and throat are more responsive to sour and bitter tastes; furthermore, the receptors situated inside the taste buds are also connected to either the lingual, glossopharyngeal, or vagus nerve, all of which transmit touch, temperature, and pain as well as taste stimuli (Taste 16). The end of the line for these connections is the medulla oblongata; gustatory fibers then ascend from the medulla oblongata to the thalamus and ultimately to the taste reception area in the cerebral cortex (Taste 17).
What people actually "taste" after they take a bite of food, though, is much more involved than these mere physiological processes that are taking place though. According to Borthwick (2000), "Although all the senses necessarily function in relation to the external objective world, the fundamental difference between what Kant calls the objective and subjective senses lies in how the object in taste and olfaction becomes part of the body. To taste...
In this process the object is clearly altered" (127).
Works Cited
Borthwick, Fiona. (2000). "Olfaction and Taste: Invasive Odours and Disappearing Objects." The Australian Journal of Anthropology 11(2):127.
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