If you are experiencing gustatory perception, what are you doing?
Answer
tasting
smelling
touching
balancing
Question 2
Question
What are the four basic tastes generally considered to be?
Answer
sweet, sour, spicy, and smooth
salty, sweet, sour, and bitter
bitter, salty, bland, and sour
sour, bitter, bland, and hot
Question 3
Question
Where on the tongue would you find the oldest taste cells?
Answer
near the tip of the tongue
near the middle of the taste bud
near the throat
near the outer edge of the taste bud
Question 4
Question
What structure in the gustatory system operates in a similar fashion to rods and cones in the visual system?
Answer
the tongue
a taste bud
a hair cell
the salivary gland
Question 5
Question
What evidence do we have that some taste preferences are innate?
Answer
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.
Question 6
Question
Compared to nontasters, what is different about people characterized as supertasters?
Answer
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.
Question 7
Question
What is one key gender difference that has been found with respect to tasting?
Answer
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.
Question 8
Question
Eloise is an individual who is classified as a supertaster. What is she likely to be especially sensitive to?
Answer
salty and sour tastes
sweet and salty tastes
sweet and bitter tastes
sour and bitter tastes
Question 9
Question
Why does food generally taste bland when you have a severe head cold?
Answer
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.
Question 10
Question
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?
Answer
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.
Question 11
Question
What is the sense associated with the perception of smell?
Answer
olfaction
gustation
audition
kinaesthesia
Question 12
Question
What is the only sensory system that does not project upward to the cerebral cortex through the thalamus?
Answer
audition
gustation
vision
olfaction
Question 13
Question
What are the sensory receptors for smell?
Answer
smell buds
gustatory bulbs
olfactory cilia
sciatic receptors
Question 14
Question
Our sense of smell shows evidence of sensory adaptation. What happens to the perceived strength of an odour?
Answer
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.
Question 15
Question
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?