The tongue map or taste map is a common misconception that different sections of the tongue are exclusively responsible for different basic tastes. It is illustrated with a schematic map of the tongue, with certain parts of the tongue labeled for each taste. Although widely taught in schools, this was scientifically disproven by later research; all taste sensations come from all regions of the tongue.[1]
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The theory behind this map originated from a paper written by Harvard psychologist Edwin G. Boring, which was a translation of a German paper, Zur Psychophysik des Geschmackssinnes, that was written in 1901.[2] The unclear representation of data in the former paper suggested that each part of the tongue tastes exactly one basic taste.[3][4]
Actually, the paper showed minute differences in threshold detection levels across the tongue.[2][5] These differences were later taken out of context and the minute difference in threshold sensitivity related simply in textbooks as a difference in sensitivity.[5]
So, while some parts of the tongue may be able to detect a taste before the others do, all parts are equally good at conveying the qualia of all tastes. Threshold sensitivity may differ across the tongue,[5] intensity of sensation does not.
The same article included a taste bud distribution diagram that showed a "taste belt".[6]
In 1974, a scientist named Virginia Collings investigated the topic again, and confirmed that all the tastes exist on all parts of the tongue.[7]
The misinterpreted 1901 diagram in the article that sparked this myth shows human taste buds distributed in a "taste belt" the outside of the tongue.
A. Hoffmann has concluded prior in 1875 that the dorsal center of the human tongue has practically no fungiform papillae and taste buds,[8] and it was this finding that the diagram describes.
Every part of the tongue includes receptors for every basic taste.[9][10]
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