Ch. 6.3. Chemical senses Flashcards
Suppose you find a new, unusual-tasting food. How could you determine whether we have a special receptor for that food or whether we taste it with a combination of the other known taste receptors?
You could test for cross-adaptation. If the new taste cross-adapts with others, then it uses the same receptors. If it does not cross-adapt, it may have a receptor of its own. Another possibility would be to find some procedure that blocks this taste without blocking other tastes
If someone injected into your tongue a chemical that blocks the release of second messengers, how would it affect your taste experiences?
The chemical would block your experiences of sweet, bitter, and umami but should not prevent you from tasting salty and sour.
Why are supertasters more sensitive to tastes than other
people are?
They have more taste buds.
In what way do olfactory receptors resemble metabotropic
neurotransmitter receptors?
Like metabotropic neurotransmitter receptors, an olfactory receptor acts through a G protein that triggers further events within the cell.
What is the mean life span of an olfactory receptor?
Most olfactory receptors survive a little more than
a month before dying and being replaced.
What factors contribute to individual differences in olfactory
sensitivity?
genetics, age, and gender.
What is a major difference between olfactory receptors and
those of the vomeronasal organ?
Olfactory receptors adapt quickly to a continu-
ous odor, whereas receptors of the vomeronasal organ continue to respond. Also, vomeronasal sensations are apparently capable of influencing behavior even without being consciously perceived.
. What evidence indicates that people learn their synesthetic associations, at least in some cases?
Some people have letter-color synesthesia that matches the colors of refrigerator magnets they played with in childhood.
What type of cell is a taste receptor?
A modified skin cell
How do we manage to smell a wide variety of chemicals?
We have hundreds of types of olfactory receptors.
When a new olfactory receptor forms to replace one that died, does it connect to the same site in the olfactory bulb as the previous receptor? If so, how?
It finds the correct site by chemical attraction.
