Deck 15: Chemical Senses Ll: Taste

Question 1

The sense of taste is also known as

A) gustation.
B) olfaction.
C) nasaction.
D) kinesthesis.

Answer 1

gustation.

Question 2

During normal eating, the taste of food changes over time in the mouth because

A) chewing alters food's consistency.
B) adaptation takes place.
C) the temperature of the food changes.
D) chewing releases chemical substances from the food.

Answer 2

chewing releases chemical substances from the food.

Question 3

Which is a minimum prerequisite for a substance to be tasted?

A) It must be volatile.
B) It must be soluble.
C) It must be a combination of the principal qualities identified by Henning.
D) none of these

Answer 3

It must be soluble.

Question 4

The five basic taste qualities are

A) sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami.
B) pungent, sweet, salt, astringent, and cool.
C) salt, sweet, quinine, harsh, and intense.
D) sour, bitter, sucrose, floral, and salty.

Question 5

The ____________ are the bumps on the tongue that contain the ___________ that house the receptor cells responsible for taste.

A) taste buds; papillae
B) papillae; taste buds
C) lacrimae; taste receptor neurons
D) corrugated cells; gustatory cilia

Question 6

The ____________ of the tongue contain(s) no taste receptors.

A) sides
B) front
C) back
D) center

Question 7

Taste buds are present on the

A) tongue.
B) throat.
C) roof of the mouth.
D) all of these

Question 8

The percentage of the surface area of the tongue containing taste buds is

A) 1%
B) 5%
C) 20%
D) 50%

Question 9

According to the text, Charles Zuker and colleagues were able to use molecular-genetics techniques to create mice

A) that were unable to taste sweet but could taste umami.
B) that were able to taste sweet but could not taste umami.
C) that were able to taste sugar and aspartame.
D) all of these

Question 10

A strong concentration of a bitter substance is detected

A) only at the back of the mouth.
B) only on the sides of the tongue.
C) wherever there are taste receptors.
D) only at the front of the tongue.

Question 11

In perception, a knock-out mouse is one in which

A) a gene for a receptor protein has been removed.
B) a gene for a human receptor protein has been introduced.
C) a gene for a particular brain area has been removed.
D) a gene for a particular human brain area has been introduced.

Question 12

Taste information from the tongue is conveyed to the brain along ________ different pathways.

A) one
B) two
C) six
D) more than eight

Question 13

Flavor information from the tongue is conveyed to the brain along ________ cranial nerves.

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four

Question 14

One pathway from the tongue that mediates perception of flavor goes from the brain stem via the thalamus

A) to the gustatory cortex.
B) to the amygdala and then to the gustatory cortex.
C) to the hypothalamus and then to the gustatory cortex.
D) to the amygdala and then to the hypothalamus.

Question 15

The behavioral reaction associated with a taste seems to be mediated by processes in the

A) occipital lobe.
B) insula.
C) orbito-frontal cortex.
D) parietal cortex

Question 16

In humans, damage to which brain area undermines the ability to identify taste substances?

A) the insula
B) the amygdala
C) the hypothalamus
D) the cingulate

Question 17

The notion that taste perception is a function of the pattern of activity across a population of taste fibers was first postulated by Carl Pfaffmann (1955). His theory is called

A) cross-fiber theory.
B) taste modification.
C) taste mixture.
D) none of these

Question 18

The intensity of a taste is signaled by

A) the number of neurons firing.
B) the rate of firing within nerve fibers.
C) the pattern of activity across different nerve fibers.
D) the total tongue area stimulated.

Question 19

The same gustatory-cortex neurons signal different information in three different epochs. In order from first to last they signal

A) palatability, taste, texture.
B) texture, palatability, taste.
C) palatability, texture, taste.
D) texture, taste, palatability.

Question 20

Most people have the greatest sensitivity to which basic taste?

A) sweet
B) salty
C) bitter
D) sour

Question 21

The ability to identify tastes is

A) better among nonsmokers than smokers.
B) better among males than females.
C) better when you're hungry.
D) none of these

Question 22

If you can taste the bitter substance PTC, compared to someone who cannot taste it,

A) you are more likely to prefer coffee.
B) you are more likely to prefer alcohol.
C) you are less likely to drink alcohol.
D) you are less likely to add lots of cream and sugar to your coffee.

Question 23

In which modality does knowing the identity of a stimulus NOT help in detecting it?

A) audition
B) vision
C) gustation
D) olfaction

Question 24

Cruz and Green (2000) found that local cooling of the tongue induces a taste of

A) sour.
B) sweet.
C) bitter.
D) umami.

Question 25

When you are hungry your threshold drops for

A) sour.
B) sweet.
C) bitter.
D) umami.

Question 26

The ability to sort cherry pits from cherry flesh in one's mouth is evidence of

A) localization of tastes within the mouth.
B) taste receptors on the inside of the cheeks.
C) touch receptors in the tongue.
D) tongue haptics.

Question 27

Altering the taste of one substance by first tasting another is termed

A) adaptation.
B) forward masking.
C) modification.
D) backward taste masking.

Question 28

To make lemon juice taste sweet, you could first consume

A) gymnema sylvestre.
B) miracle fruit.
C) toothpaste.
D) salty water.

Question 29

Adding sugar to a cup of coffee to reduce its bitterness is

A) an example of taste suppression.
B) foolish because you can't really reduce the strength of one taste using another.
C) termed hedonic inhibition.
D) an example of a conditioned taste aversion.

Question 30

It has been recently shown that AMP, a substance in breast milk, raises thresholds for

A) sour.
B) sweet.
C) bitter.
D) umami.

Question 31

Individual taste preferences can begin

A) in the genes.
B) in the womb.
C) in the early postnatal environment.
D) in all of these

Question 32

Which of the following seem(s) to determine how pleasant a flavor is?

A) its concentration
B) its color
C) past experience
D) all of these

Question 33

Conditioned taste aversion is

A) natural aversion to bitter tastes.
B) aversion to tastes associated with sickness.
C) unpleasantness of sweetness beyond the bliss point.
D) all of these

Question 34

The concentration yielding the highest hedonic rating is referred to as

A) taste mixture.
B) taste hedonics.
C) bliss point.
D) none of these

Question 35

According to the textbook, if an odor is added to a substance, which of the following is true?

A) It increases the strength of taste but not smell.
B) It increases the strength of smell but not taste.
C) It increases the strength of taste and of smell.
D) none of these

Question 36

The ability of taste and smells to trigger vivid personal memories is called

A) the Cyrano phenomenon.
B) the Joyce phenomenon.
C) the Swift phenomenon.
D) the Proust phenomenon.

Question 37

Describe how substances in the mouth lead to neural impulses in taste receptors. Compare and contrast the tongues of supertasters and of nontasters.

Question 38

Describe the brain regions processing taste, and discuss their roles.

Question 39

Define sensory-specific satiety, and describe how it can affect eating behavior during a large meal.

Question 40

Define taste adaptation and taste modification. Give at least one example of each, and show how they are consistent with cross-fiber theory.

Question 41

Describe the interactions between taste and smell.