There are unique receptor cells on the surface of the tongue that detect different tastes. Structures called papillae are small bumps on the tongue that increase the tongue's surface area . There are three kinds of papillae. 

- circumvallate papillae (located towards back of the tongue)
- foliate papillae (located on the sides of the tongue)
- fungiform papillae (located in the front of the tongue) 

On each papillae, there are taste buds. 

How taste functions

While it is commonly taught that there are four traditional taste groupings (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter), research has expanded this classification to include at least six. The fifth identified taste is umami, and there is significant experimental evidence supporting the existence of a sixth taste for the fatty content of food.

Basic Taste Groupings

Taste is a chemical sense

- The five basic tastes
- How taste functions

Grinnell College

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

- Sensory Processing, Touch, Pain
- Hearing, Vestibular Perception
- Taste
- Smell
- Vision
- Motor Control and Plasticity

Neuroscience of Perception and Action

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Sensory receptors such as eyes or taste buds develop differently in different species. Sensory processing refers to the ways the brain integrates information received from sensory receptors in order to process appropriate behavioral or cognitive response. 

- Sensory organs
- Stimuli
- Receptor Cells
- Touch and the skin
- Pain
- Sensory processing disorder
- Synesthesia

Sensory processing, touch and pain

Taste

Chemicals in the air trigger odor sensation

- receptors in the nose
- transmission to brain regions
- anosmia

Smell

- Behavioral view of reflexes
- Control systems for accuracy vs speed
- Spinal cord's role in controling body movement
- Motor cortexes
- Extrapyramidal systems role in motor commands
- Brain disorders and motor impairments

Motor Control 

People's experience is shaped by the sensory experience, which relies on other senses to process information. This is crossmodality. The interactions between senses change how the other senses are processed. For example, the interactions of sight and somatosensation is proprioception. This is only true in sighted individuals, and blind individuals have different ways of proprioception. Plasticity of the brain allows crossmodality to be effective. 
Crossmodality can both enhance and hinder sensory expereinces and how people perceive the world.

Crossmodality of the senses

- How hearing functions in the ear
- Auditory signals
- Hearing loss
- Vestibular perception
- Vestibular system

Hearing and Vestibular perception

People tend to use a high amount of visual information to inform their daily activities. There is also a lot of sensory information coming in through the eyes, which makes the visual system a highly researched field of neuroscience. 

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