| <li>Sour substances cause grimaces, puckering reactions, and a lot of salivation to be secreted to mask the tastant.<ref>Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Katz LC, LaMantia A-S, McNamara JO, et al. Taste Perception in Humans. 2001 [cited 2022 Oct 9]; Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10833/</ref></li></ol></li> | | <li>Sour substances cause grimaces, puckering reactions, and a lot of salivation to be secreted to mask the tastant.<ref>Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Katz LC, LaMantia A-S, McNamara JO, et al. Taste Perception in Humans. 2001 [cited 2022 Oct 9]; Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10833/</ref></li></ol></li> |
| <li>The idea that there are only four "basic" tastes—salt, sweet, sour, and bitter—is another fallacy about taste perception.If this were the case, then any combination of these "primaries" could represent any taste. These four tastes do represent unique sensations, yet it is evident that this categorization is constrained. Additional tastes that people feel include astringency (from cranberries and tea), pungency (from hot pepper and ginger), fattiness, starchiness, and various metallic tastes (to name but a few). But none of this fall under any of these four groups. Additionally, in some cultures, certain tastes are regarded as "primary." For instance, the Japanese believe that the tastes of monosodium glutamate differs from that of salt and even give it a new name ("umami," which translates to "delicious"). Last but not least, combining different compounds can produce completely different tastes. It is possible to estimate the number of scents that are perceived (about 10,000), but due to these uncertainties, it is challenging to determine the number of tastes. There is no obvious connection between "basic" perceptual classes and the cellular and molecular machinery of sensory transduction in either taste or olfaction.<ref>Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Katz LC, LaMantia A-S, McNamara JO, et al. Taste Perception in Humans. 2001 [cited 2022 Oct 9]; Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10833/</ref></li></ol></div> | | <li>The idea that there are only four "basic" tastes—salt, sweet, sour, and bitter—is another fallacy about taste perception.If this were the case, then any combination of these "primaries" could represent any taste. These four tastes do represent unique sensations, yet it is evident that this categorization is constrained. Additional tastes that people feel include astringency (from cranberries and tea), pungency (from hot pepper and ginger), fattiness, starchiness, and various metallic tastes (to name but a few). But none of this fall under any of these four groups. Additionally, in some cultures, certain tastes are regarded as "primary." For instance, the Japanese believe that the tastes of monosodium glutamate differs from that of salt and even give it a new name ("umami," which translates to "delicious"). Last but not least, combining different compounds can produce completely different tastes. It is possible to estimate the number of scents that are perceived (about 10,000), but due to these uncertainties, it is challenging to determine the number of tastes. There is no obvious connection between "basic" perceptual classes and the cellular and molecular machinery of sensory transduction in either taste or olfaction.<ref>Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Katz LC, LaMantia A-S, McNamara JO, et al. Taste Perception in Humans. 2001 [cited 2022 Oct 9]; Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10833/</ref></li></ol></div> |