NATURE OF TASTE QUALITIES

The concept of 4 basic tastes developed historically on the basis of a number of criteria. Modern evidence, largely electrophysiological, has led some investigators to reject the concept of basic tastes in favor of a taste continuum or multidimensional space. The present article reviews data that support the validity of the basic tastes. It is concluded that this concept, as well as the separate question of taste as an analytic or synthetic sense, is compatible with either of the 2 major positions on sensory coding in taste, labeled line theory and pattern theory. Taste may profitably be considered to comprise 4 distinct but interacting sensory modalities or submodalities analogous to the (other) skin senses. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1979 American Psychological Association.