Origins of the taste map. That familiar but not-quite-right map has its roots in a 1901 paper, Zur Psychophysik des Geschmackssinnes, by German scientist David P Hänig. Hänig set out to measure ...

Everybody has seen the tongue map — that little diagram of the tongue with different sections neatly cordoned off for different taste receptors. Sweet in the front, salty and sour on the sides ...

The perception of taste is remarkably complex, not only on the tongue but in organs throughout the body. Listen to this article · 4:17 min Learn more. ... The map’s mistakes are easy to confirm.

The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth. It's covered with moist, pink tissue called mucosa. Tiny bumps called papillae give the tongue its rough texture. Thousands of taste buds cover the ...

Research led by two Cal State Long Beach professors shows that the tongue isn’t necessary to taste or speak. Although the tongue is covered in cells that can taste, the organ is not necessary to ...

If the tongue map were correct, one would expect sweet receptors to be localized to the front of the tongue and bitter receptors restricted to the back. But this is not the case.

The taste map: 1. Bitter 2. Sour 3. Salt 4. Sweet. MesserWoland via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA. The problem isn’t with Hänig’s findings. It’s how he decided to present that information.

Modern molecular biology also argues against the tongue map. Over the past 15 years, researchers have identified many of the receptor proteins found on taste cells in the mouth that are critical ...