Russian scientist, Ivan Pavlov has conducted experiments and found that even the thought of food will water your mouth (conditioned reflexes). You have discussed about Pavlov experiment in the chapter animal behavior in class 9th.

Are there any other sensation that affect taste?

What happens to your taste sensation while sipping hot milk or tea?

You may also find something more tastey when they are hot. While some others are relished cool.

What do you think could be the range of temperature for us to relish food items?

Let us do a simple activity to see the role of different parts of the mouth in helping us to tast

Activity-4

Place some sugar crystals on your tongue keep your mouth opened and see that your tongue doesn't touch the palate. Record the time from the moment you placed the crystals on your tongue till you got the taste by using stop watch

Now repeat the test by placing the sugar crystals on the tongue and pressing it against the palate. Record the time from placing sugar crystals to getting the taste .Or put a drop of sugar solution on your tongue using a dropper.

Can we taste on dry tongue?

Which way helped you taste faster ? Why?

Based on the above activity we know that taste can be identified easily when the tongue is pressed against the palate. As we know the tongue is sensory in function and contains taste buds. These taste buds are tiny papillae with an opening on top. Within them there are several taste sensitive cells. Any food substance when placed on the tongue gets dissolved in the saliva secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. When the tongue is pressed against the palate the food substance is pressed against the opening of the taste bud letting it to reach the taste cells and triggering taste signals