Page 148 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

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Complex Communication Systems

Professor Joseph Brand is a scientist known for his work on the sense
of taste. According to him, it takes only 0.2 to 0.5 seconds for us to per-
ceive the taste of anything placed on the tongue. 130 What takes place dur-
ing this interval—shorter than the time it takes you to open and close
your eyes has been the subject of investigation for many years. Presently,
the main lines of the processes involved in taste perception have been es-
tablished. 131

Taste begins when compounds from the food you chew are dissolved
in saliva. We detect the taste of salty foods more quickly because salt dis-
solves faster in saliva than do other substances. Indeed, the salivary
glands sometimes start working when the smell of food is detected—in
the so-called Pavlovian response—preparing the tongue for tasting. Like
every detail in taste perception, this stage is important too. Were it not for
this secretion, you would be unable to taste dried foods. (Saliva also con-
tains proteins and enzymes that assist the digestive and immune systems.
Research into saliva’s features and functions is ongoing, but studies have

already revealed that this fluid, generally regarded as insignificant, has a
rather complex structure.)
The molecules from food communicate with the taste receptors on
the tongue via hair-like structures known as microvilli on the cell’s tip.