Page 155 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

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the cortex, hypothalamus and amygdala regions of the brain. When you
snack on a cracker, these three nerves are constantly occupied with trans-
mitting reports to the relevant regions of the brain. In addition to these, a
special nerve (known as cranial nerve V) also

carries data from the cells concerning temper-
ature, touch, pressure and pain to the brain.
How, though, do these messages turn in-
to perceptions such as a delicious chestnut
cake or a flavorful mushroom soup? How do
we tell whether what we eat is fresh or stale?
How do we instantly recognize foods? How is
it that we analyze them in such a way as to
describe their details?
In order to provide a satisfactory answer
to these questions, we need to await the find-
ings of new research. It is still not known how
nerve messages turns into taste perceptions in
the brain; the encoding system in the taste-

When you eat or drink some-
thing, your taste nerves trans-
mit the message you receive
from the taste cells to the
brain, and this information
is rapidly interpreted as “a
delicious chocolate cake”
or “a tasty mush-
room soup.”