Forked tongue
The taste buds of the tongue allow us to feel different tastes when we eat. But what happens in the body when we separate sweet from salt? The model shows the tongue and its underlying muscles in cross section.
The most important function of the tongue is to regulate the flow of food to the oesophagus, create speech and work as the tasting centre.
The tongue is covered by a mucous membranevery and has eight muscles. These muscles make the tongue very flexible and they are also the reason the tongue is the shape it is. In addition, they are the muscles we have the most control over. A special nerve called the cranial nerve steers the tongue’s movements. These functions enable us to move food between the teeth when we chew and push food backwards towards the pharynx.
Without a tongue, a person cannot speak normally or create special sounds.
A salivary gland can be found under the tongue. This is where saliva (spit) is created. The tongue’s mucous membrane contains taste buds. Humans can recognise five tastes:
- Bitter
- Sour
- Sweet
- Salty
- Umami
How taste works:
Receptors on the tongue are called taste receptors. When something touches the taste receptors, information is sent to the brain with the help of three brain nerves, facial nerves and the tongue/swallowing nerve where it reaches the tasting centre in the front of the brain’s parietal lobe.
Taste receptors are grouped together in the taste buds which react when flavours are released by saliva. We used to think that the basic tastes were recognised at different places on the tongue, but we now know that you can recognise a taste using the whole tongue.
The sense of taste contains important information about things you put in your mouth. As a rule, we spit out things that taste bad – usually things that taste bitter – so we avoid being poisoned.
