Re: Bitterness - getting back on topic

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:57:58 -0700 (PDT), the following
appeared in talk.origins, posted by Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@xxxxxxxxxx>:

On Apr 14, 10:00 pm, a...@xxxxxxxxxxx (axlq) wrote:
Why are the "bitterness" taste buds at the back of the tongue?

Wikipedia says they aren't!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste_buds#Localization_of_taste_and_the_human_.22tongue_map.22

"Contrary to popular understanding that different tastes map to
different areas of the tongue, taste qualities are found in all areas
of the tongue. The original 'tongue map' was based on a
mistranslation by Harvard psychologist Edwin G. Boring of a German
paper that was written in 1901. Sensitivity to all tastes occurs
across the whole tongue and indeed to other regions of the mouth where
there are taste buds (epiglottis, soft palate)."

One more thing that "everyone knows" that's wrong, like the genetics
of curling the sides of your tongue into a tube. And they teach this
at the age when we believe everything we're told.

Thanks! One more urban legend (although the provenance of
this one is a bit more respectable than most) down.
--

Bob C.

"Evidence confirming an observation is
evidence that the observation is wrong."
- McNameless

.

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