Many are sure that there are different zones on the surface of the language, each of which is responsible for recognizing one of the tastes. We decided to check if this is really so.

This information is often possible Meet on educational sites for schoolchildren and in presentations To the lessons biology. Usually tellsthat there are four zones on the surface of the tongue with their unique specialization. So, the tip of the tongue recognizes the sweet taste, the back is responsible for bitter notes, the side surfaces specialize in salty, and the area on the sides in front of the back perceives the sour taste. The color is also common scheme visualization of these data. On the map of the taste zones of the tongue, some sommelier even Recommend Select special glasses for wine so that the drink immediately falls into the most sensitive areas.

The discovery of these zones and their localization on the surface of the tongue is usually attributed to the German scientist David Pauli Hunig. Supposedly, dripping solutions with different tastes to different zones, he made such a discovery and Described Its in his dissertation “To the psychophysics of taste sensations” in 1901. Its text can be found on the network in German and today. It also presents a linear schedule demonstrating the severity of the perception of each taste, depending on the language zone.

Schedule from the work of Hyunig. Source

However, a completely different person popularized this theory. American psychologist Edwin Boring in his article “Sensation and perception in the history of psychology” used data from Hyunig’s work, while instead of careful formulations of the German scientist “zone is the most susceptible” or “zone showed the greatest sensitivity”, he summarized the data and presented them in the form of absolute statements. From the English translation of Hynig theory and a map of taste sensations familiar to us today was born.

Moreover, only four tastes are presented in it: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. The fifth taste - with minds, or meat - was Described And named in 1909 the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda. We taste with the minds we are Feel Due to the glutamic acid contained in the food and some ribonucleotides. The most vivid impressions of this taste we We getWhen we eat meat, fish, seafood, algae, some vegetables (Beijing cabbage, spinach, celery) and cheeses. In 2015, American scientists They said On the opening of the sixth taste - Oleogustus, the taste of fat. The head of the research group, Professor Richard Mayts, considers the discovery of Oleogustus an important step for the strategy for combating obesity.

To date, it has been established that for recognition of tastes Answer Special Receptors. Not quite evenly, but they Distributed over the entire surface of the tongue. Moreover, a palate and even throat play an important participation in the recognition of taste. At the same time, it cannot be said that the theory about the specialization of language zones to each taste is not fully true. In 2014, scientists discovered In the experiment on mice, such destroying cells are, however, not in the language, but in the brain. Neuron groups focused on one of the five tastes (the sixth taste of Oleogustus was not studied in work, since the opening was announced later).

Thus, the theory about the zones of the language, which is isolatedly recognizing each individual taste, is erroneous and most likely arose due to an incorrect translation. We can feel any part of the language each of the five (and maybe six tastes), which is easy to verify on our own experience: the tip of the tongue will definitely be able to distinguish sugar from salt, and meat broth - from coffee or citric acid.