Deck 7: Taste and Smell

Question 1

In which of these locations are taste receptors not found?

A) Soft palate
B) Upper oesophagus
C) Epiglottis
D) Nasal epithelium

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In which of these locations on the tongue are taste buds found?

A) Fungiform papillae
B) Foliate papillae
C) Circumvallate papillae
D) All of these

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The hair-like structures in taste buds which project into the gustatory pore are known as:

A) Microvilli
B) Cilia
C) Outer segments
D) Rods

Answer 3

A

Question 4

How many basic taste qualities are currently thought to be recognised by taste receptors?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 10
D) 8

Question 5

Which region of the mouth is most sensitive to salt?

A) Soft palate
B) Circumvallate papillae
C) Tip of the tongue
D) Sides of the tongue

Question 6

Why does saliva not taste salty?

A) Taste receptors for salt have adapted
B) Saliva does not contain salt
C) Other compounds in saliva mask its salt taste
D) None of these

Question 7

Which components of food are sweet tastes thought to indicate?

A) Protein
B) Dietary acids
C) Cellulose
D) Carbohydrates

Question 8

Which is the taste nucleus of the thalamus?

A) Medial geniculate
B) Lateral geniculate
C) Ventral posterior medial
D) Solitary

Question 9

Primary taste cortex is thought to be:

A) Orbitofrontal cortex
B) Insula
C) Anterior cingulate
D) Frontal operculum

Question 10

Of the two theories of taste coding, the evidence suggests that:

A) The Labelled Line theory is superior
B) The Cross-Fibre Theory is superior
C) Both theories may be correct, for different parts of the taste system
D) Both theories are incorrect

Question 11

What is thought to be the approximate number of types of human olfactory receptors?

A) 396
B) 851
C) 7
D) 9

Question 12

Malnic et al. suggested that olfactory receptors:

A) Respond to only one odour
B) Respond to a range of odours with preferential tuning for a small subset
C) Respond to two or three odours
D) None of these

Question 13

Which of the following is not known to cause anosmia?

A) Parkinson's disease
B) Sinus infection
C) Head injury
D) Glandular fever

Question 14

Data on sex differences in odour perception suggest that:

A) Women are superior at detecting all odours
B) Women are superior at detecting all but a small number of odours, at which men are superior
C) There are no differences between men and women
D) Men are superior at detecting all odours

Question 15

Adaptation to odours can persist for:

A) Less than two hours
B) About two days
C) More than two weeks
D) One day

Question 16

Which of the following has not been suggested as a function for smell?

A) Promoting or checking intake of food
B) Social communication
C) Monitoring environmental hazards
D) Finding one's way about

Question 17

About how many glomeruli are in the olfactory bulb?

A) 2,000
B) 20,000
C) 1 million
D) 200

Question 18

In the olfactory bulb, about how many glomeruli receive input from one type of olfactory receptor?

A) 100
B) 10
C) 2
D) 50

Question 19

In piriform cortex, different odorants are coded:

A) By one or two neurons
B) By a distributed pattern of activity
C) By a local region of neurons
D) None of these

Question 20

To which of these tastants are receptor cells not tuned?

A) Sweet
B) Bitter
C) Umami
D) Salt

Question 21

Which is the most sensitive region of the mouth for bitter?

A) Soft palate
B) Sides of the tongue
C) Tip of the tongue
D) Epiglottis

Question 22

Salivation, secretion of gastric juices and autonomic responses are controlled by:

A) Insula
B) Solitary nucleus
C) Anterior cingulate cortex
D) Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 23

The reward component of tastes is thought to be represented in:

A) Orbitofrontal cortex
B) Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
C) Insula
D) Anterior cingulate cortex

Question 24

When anchoring a scale of liking with a metric other than taste, Bartoshuk showed that the obese:

A) Dislike sweet things more than do leaner people
B) Are indifferent to sweet tastes
C) Like sweet things more than do leaner people
D) Tend to be 'super-tasters'

Question 25

Smell receptors are found on the:

A) Epiglottis
B) Soft palate
C) Tonsils
D) Olfactory epithelia

Question 26

Hyposmia is:

A) Smelling in dreams
B) Reduction in ability to smell
C) Reduction in sensitivity to tastants
D) Excessive use of perfume

Question 27

Mercaptans are added to natural gas to:

A) Add a smell to an otherwise odourless product
B) Conceal an otherwise unpleasant smell
C) Reduce the amount of carbon monoxide produced in combustion
D) Make it easier to ignite

Question 28

Pelchat et al. showed that the ability to detect a characteristic odour in urine, after asparagus had been eaten, was:

A) Age-dependent
B) Genetically determined
C) Related to generally lower odour thresholds
D) A by-product of the cooking procedure

Question 29

Using fMRI, Howard et al. showed that ease of discriminating different odours was associated with:

A) Extent of the differences in the distributions of activity in posterior piriform cortex
B) Extent of the differences in the distributions of activity in anterior piriform cortex
C) Differences in total activity in olfactory bulb
D) Extent of the differences in the distributions of activity in orbitofrontal cortex

Question 30

Why has it been thought that there is a 'taste map' on the tongue and to what extent is this view wrong?

Question 31

Give an example of an individual difference in taste perception? How is it to be explained?

Question 32

What is the role of orbitofrontal cortex in taste perception?

Question 33

How is neural coding in the olfactory bulb different from that in olfactory cortex?

Question 34

Do humans respond to pheromones, and, if so, is it via the main olfactory system?