QuickCheck: Do different parts of your tongue taste different things?

YOUR tongue is divided into four regions that are sensitive to sweet, sour, bitter and salty flavours.

Is this true?

Verdict:

WhatsApp Image 2022-01-26 at 11.36.37 AM (1)

FALSE

All different tastes can be detected on all parts of your tongue, though people might have slightly increased sensitivities in different locations.

The taste map that most people were taught in school is simply wrong.

The misconception stems from a paper written in 1901 by Harvard psychologist Dirk P. Hanig who theorised that each part of the tongue tasted exactly one basic taste.

However, Hanig's theory was disproved by University of Pittsburgh psychologist Virginia Collings in 1974.

As for there being four basic flavours, there is actually a fifth taste, umami which is a savoury or meaty taste.

References:

1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03203270#author-information

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1571047/

3. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/health/11real.html?_r=1