Dr. Arianna Maffei’s presentation was about taste buds, and how the brain receives taste signals. Through hundreds of millions of years of evolution, our sense of taste has learned what tastes good and what tastes bad. There are many papillae on the tongue, which corporate the taste buds and transmit to specific areas of the cerebral cortex through TRC (Taste Receptor Cells). As for the tongue map, we have been taught that there are four taste regions on the tongue, namely: “Bitter”, “Sour”, “Sweet umami”, and “Salty”. Previous knowledge suggested that each taste bud managed a specific area of the tongue. In fact, the entire tongue is covered with different taste buds. It’s just that they may be more dispersed in certain areas. More interestingly, like vision, the cortex has different receptors for different tastes.

In this presentation, another interesting experiment answered a question: “Is early experience with food influencing our eating habits later in life?” The answer is YES. A team of scientists from Dr. Arianna Maffei’s lab used rats to do the research. Scientists changed the diet of rats, including increasing the amount of sugar they ate. After a week, rats’ eating habits changed, and they were more likely to eat the food in the experiment. However, these phenomena were more common in young rats. The rate of change in adult rats was not as high as in young rats. Therefore, the taste experience early in life influences the preference for sweetness in adulthood.