yes.Originally Posted by Værn
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The word taste comes from the latin word "taxare" meaning "to touch, estimate, or judge."
BASIC ANATOMY:
The taste buds are the sensory unit of the tongue, and the 10,000 + taste buds are mainly found on the tongue's papillae (some are found on the soft palate of the roof of your mouth, inner cheeks, pharynx and epiglottis).
There are two major taste bud cells:
gustatory cells:
have projections known as gustatory hairs that are the sensative portion; they emit signals from a stimulus to the cell which then sends a signal to the brain.
& basal cells.
they act as stem cells, dividing and differentiating into new gustatory cells.
BASIC TASTE SENSATIONS:
Taste can be grouped into 5 basic "qualities":
1. sweet (elicited by sugars, saccharin, alcohols and some amino acids)
2. sour (elicited by acids)
3. salty (elicited by metal ions)
4. bitter (elicited by alkaloids)
5. umami (relatively new. associated with the quality of taste in teas; japanese meaning delcious; elicited by most amino acids)
Taste is a mixture of all the above since most taste buds respond to 2 or more taste qualities.
Understandably, people think that smell is a part of taste. However, semantics, taste is restricted anatomically and physiologically to the tongue where as smell is restricted to the nasal cavity and olfactory bulbs.
Together they create the experience of "taste" or "flavour" but this taste should not be confused with medical terminology taste that is defined as the sensory response to chemicals being dissolved by saliva.
So it all depends on how you're using the word.
If you're out at dinner with friends then it's an all encompassing experience that combines taste and smell ~ however, if you're on a date with a doctor he might call you out on that one and jeez won't your face be red.
[SOURCE:
Hoehn, K., & Marieb, E. (2007). Human anatomy & physiology (7th ed.). San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.]
