Basic Taste: A Perceptual Concept

Abstract

That the perceptual world of human taste is made up of four or five basic taste qualities is commonly accepted in the field of taste perception. Nevertheless, critics identify two issues that challenge this view. First, some argue that the term “basic tastes” cannot be precisely defined and, thus, is scientifically meaningless. Others accept the concept of basic tastes but believe there are many more. I argue here that it is most parsimonious to employ a perceptual definition of basic taste. I conclude that there are indeed four basic tastes (with a potential fifth) that constitute the building blocks of the human taste experience. Evidence cited includes historical writings from Chinese, Indian, and Greek cultures, ethnopharmacological research, and modern biological and psychological investigations. These perceptual “data” provide strong and convincing evidence, collected over thousands of years and from many different cultures, that the human perceptual world consists of the same basic taste qualities.

Neural Coding of Food Is a Multisensory, Sensorimotor Function

“…There are five taste qualities that most researchers agree form the basis of the human taste system and that of most mammals, as mentioned above. Among other tests [6], the independence of these basic taste qualities has been evidenced by the absence of cross-generalization of conditioned taste aversions [7][8][9] in rodents. However, these studies did not rule out the possibility that other independent taste qualities exist.…”

“…However, these studies did not rule out the possibility that other independent taste qualities exist. These include fat, calcium, starch and even water (reviewed in [6]).…”

Lezzet Algısının Oluşmasında Çevresel ve Genetik Faktörlerin Etkileri

“…Lezzet algısı genel olarak sadece hissedilen tat değil koku, doku ve görsel uyarıları da kapsayan bir bütün olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Bu nedenle birçok duyu organı lezzet algısında etkilidir (4,5). Özellikle koku duyusu lezzet konusunda tat duyusundan sonra en fazla etkili olan duyudur.…”

Chemosensory Function in Burning Mouth Syndrome a Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

“…Taste alterations are common in patients with BMS and manifest as distorted taste sensation, dysgeusia, or phantom taste perception [6,7]. Taste and smell disorders receive little attention but can adversely affect food intake and the choice of foods, giving rise to malnutrition, immune disorders, and worsening of diseases [8,9].…”

“…Any factor capable of affecting taste, smell, or tactile sensation will affect the flavor of food. In this regard, saliva plays a role in the aforementioned sensory experience, contributing to the acceptance of flavors [8,[15][16][17]. In this regard, carbonic anhydrase VI (CA VI), a secretory isozyme of the a-CA gene family highly expressed in the salivary and mammary glands and secreted into saliva, has been shown by many papers to be involved in taste perception, particularly bitter taste [18][19][20].…”