The ability to perceive and also identify the smell and taste of substances is a complex process involving several senses. The six taste sensations sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami and fatty are perceived gustatorily via the palate and tongue. On the other hand, there are around 10,000 different odours (scents) that humans can recognise or could recognise if they had the appropriate experience. These are perceived olfactorily via the olfactory mucosa. However, olfactory and gustatory sensations are supplemented by haptic (tactile) or trigeminal tactile, temperature and pain information from the oral cavity. These include hot and spicy, which have nothing to do with "smelling" or "tasting" but with "feeling". The impressions received via the tongue, palate and nose are mixed in the brain to form an overall impression, so that the definitive origin can no longer be clearly traced.
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Prof. Dr. Walter Kutscher
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