What Are Chemical Senses in the Human Body? Understanding Biology

Every living thing in the world responds to stimuli. Stimuli are signals from the environment that are all around us that tell our bodies about the internal and external environment. The most common response to these signals is some sort of movement of the body. Humans, which have a complex central nervous system, rely on sensory receptors to help transmit this information to the brain. Chemical senses are also very important to the human body. These senses are known as chemoreceptors and they help the body with a wide variety of tasks.

Chemoreceptors help the body by detecting chemicals that may potentially be in the environment. What actually happens is that when molecules from the environment binds to the sensory receptors in our bodies, nerve impulses are created and that information is then sent to the brain. The brain then interprets this information and decides whether it is taste or smell.

Taste plays a very important role in the human body. A person's tongue is lined with numerous taste buds that act as sensory receptors. The taste buds then recognize various types of taste and classify them into five potential groups: salty, sour, sweet, umami, and bitter. These taste buds are grouped together in different spots on the tongue.

A human's sense of smell also plays a very important role in the human body. A person's nose contains a number of olfactory receptor cells, which help detect various chemicals from the environment. When a person smells something, a body triggers certain reflexes that tell the body that should start to begin preparing digestive juices. Additionally, if the smell is something that the body does not like, it can make the bodies gag reflex occur, or in some cases, it can even result in vomiting. Smells also play a very important role in memory, as it has been proven that certain smells can make people remember certain things from their past.

The reactions of chemical senses in the human body are very complex but play a very important role in the body. Without the ability to interpret the world around us, the world would be very different place to us.

Source:

Benitz, Bill. Lecture: Human Biology. December 3, 2009