PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5.9: Cerebral Cortex, Frontal Lobe, Entorhinal Cortex
GUSTATION
We have two sensations specialized for detecting chemicals in environment, taste and smell
together they are chemosenses: one of the two sense modalities that detect presence of particular
molecules present in environment.
Gustation: sense of taste is the simplest of sense modalities
Taste not same as flavor, flavor includes odour, texture, touch as well as it’s taste
When sick we do not taste much because mucus congestion prevent smell ques and without that
an onion tastes much like an apple
Receptors and the Sensory Pathway
Papillae: small bumps on tongue that contains a group of taste buds(small organ on tongue that
contains group of gustatory receptor cells(each of which shaped like orange segment))
Cells have hair like projections called microvilli that protrude pore of tastebud into saliva that
coats tongue
Chemicals dissolved in saliva stimulate receptor cells
The Five Qualities of Taste
Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Umami (Japanese for good taste, refers to taste of monosodium
glutamate)
Salty is detected by the sodium, which is important for our blood for it retains water. Influx of
sodium depolarizes the cell. Bitter and sweet consist of non-ionizing molecules.
Function of bitterness receptor to avoid ingesting poisons, sweet to allow us to know sugar
content of fruit, when eating fruit we disperse seeds to plant more trees
Sour tastes produced by acids, by the H+ ion, serves as warning against substances that
underwent bacterial decomposition
Umami, glutamate is an abundant amino acid and present in many proteins
OLFACTION
Olfaction: the sense of smell is one of most puzzling and interesting sense modalities
Different because people have hard time describing smells and they can evoke memories even
after years
Olfactory system sends info to Limbic system which has to do with memory and emotion
Women have more acute sense of smell, and possible that humans have two olfactory systems,
second would be the accessory which detects pheromones: chemical signals usually detected by
smell or taste that regulate reproductive and social behaviours between animals
Humans some vestigial elements of this and it is shown that chemical signals can affect women’s
menstrual cycles
Analytical sense where we can usually identify individual components and don’t blend together
Olfactory system has 10million receptor cells
We can smell things with lower concentrations than our best lab instruments can detect
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
We have two sensations specialized for detecting chemicals in environment, taste and smell together they are chemosenses: one of the two sense modalities that detect presence of particular molecules present in environment. Gustation: sense of taste is the simplest of sense modalities. Taste not same as flavor, flavor includes odour, texture, touch as well as it"s taste. When sick we do not taste much because mucus congestion prevent smell ques and without that an onion tastes much like an apple. Papillae: small bumps on tongue that contains a group of taste buds(small organ on tongue that contains group of gustatory receptor cells(each of which shaped like orange segment)) Cells have hair like projections called microvilli that protrude pore of tastebud into saliva that coats tongue. Sour, sweet, salty, bitter, umami (japanese for good taste, refers to taste of monosodium glutamate) Salty is detected by the sodium, which is important for our blood for it retains water.
