If you are experiencing gustatory perception, what are you doing?
tasting
smelling
touching
balancing
What are the four basic tastes generally considered to be?
sweet, sour, spicy, and smooth
salty, sweet, sour, and bitter
bitter, salty, bland, and sour
sour, bitter, bland, and hot
Where on the tongue would you find the oldest taste cells?
near the tip of the tongue
near the middle of the taste bud
near the throat
near the outer edge of the taste bud
What structure in the gustatory system operates in a similar fashion to rods and cones in the visual system?
the tongue
a taste bud
a hair cell
the salivary gland
What evidence do we have that some taste preferences are innate?
There is genetic evidence of predispositions to prefer certain foods.
There are many foods or substances that are rejected by all cultures.
Newborn infants demonstrate a preference for sweet and an aversion to sour tastes.
The brain’s response to flavours does not change across the life span, even if diet changes.
Compared to nontasters, what is different about people characterized as supertasters?
They have taste buds that respond to multiple types of flavours.
They have three or four additional types of taste buds.
They have about four times as many taste buds per square centimetre.
They have about ten times as many taste buds per square centimetre.
What is one key gender difference that has been found with respect to tasting?
Men are more likely than women to be supertasters.
Women tend to react more to sweet tastes while men react more to bitter tastes.
Women are more likely than men to be supertasters.
Men tend to react more to sweet tastes while women react more to bitter tastes.
Eloise is an individual who is classified as a supertaster. What is she likely to be especially sensitive to?
salty and sour tastes
sweet and salty tastes
sweet and bitter tastes
sour and bitter tastes
Why does food generally taste bland when you have a severe head cold?
Your cold will cause the sweet receptors in your mouth to become inactivated.
Your high temperature will cause your brain to block signals from the taste buds in the mouth.
Your naturally produced antibodies interfere with chemical molecules stimulated by your taste buds.
Flavour is influenced by smell as well as taste, and with a reduced sense of smell, your sense of taste will be diminished.
Mike broke his nose in a recent boxing match. The doctors packed his nose and told him he will need to breathe through his mouth for the next 10 to 14 days. What is Mike likely to experience while his nose is packed?
Food will have little taste because much of a food’s flavour depends on our sense of smell.
He will have problems with his equilibrium and balance.
Food will taste better because his sense of taste will be temporarily enhanced to compensate for his missing sense of smell.
He will have blurry vision because the packing will put pressure on his optic nerve.
What is the sense associated with the perception of smell?
olfaction
gustation
audition
kinaesthesia
What is the only sensory system that does not project upward to the cerebral cortex through the thalamus?
vision
What are the sensory receptors for smell?
smell buds
gustatory bulbs
olfactory cilia
sciatic receptors
Our sense of smell shows evidence of sensory adaptation. What happens to the perceived strength of an odour?
It fades to less than half its original strength within about four minutes.
It slowly increases over time, reaching a maximum in about 15 minutes.
It fades to less than half its original strength within a few seconds.
It increases to more than twice its original strength within about four minutes.
If someone’s behaviour is altered by the scent chemicals released by another member of his species, what is the term used for that scent chemical?
scent hormone
pheromone
odourant
chemolfaction
