Erickson R P
Physiol Behav. 1982 Jan;28(1):57-62. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(82)90102-0.
The idea that there are four primary tastes is basic to almost all research in gustation. Although this concept guides the formulation and interpretation of studies of taste psychophysics, as well as studies of taste stimuli, receptors, and neural organization, there is a surprising absence of studies designed to determine if this quadripartite view of taste is correct. The present group of three studies is designed to ask this question on a psychophysical level, comparing the taste data with combinations of tones, which appear to remain separate; subjects are asked: (a) whether tastes and tones--including mixtures--are perceived as singular or more-than-one, (b) whether increasing the number of components in a mixture (tastes or tones) results in increases in the perceived complexity, and (c) whether stimuli (tastes or tones) remain identifiable in mixtures with other stimuli. In all three experiments, it appears that the individual tones remained distinct and unaltered in combinations. Taste stimuli combined very differently from tones, in ways that suggested that the original components lost their identity, and sensations other than those in the original components (e.g., "primary tastes") were synthesized. From this it follows that taste is composed of many sensations, not just the "primary four."
存在四种基本味觉的观点几乎是所有味觉研究的基础。尽管这一概念指导着味觉心理物理学研究以及味觉刺激、受体和神经组织研究的制定与解释，但令人惊讶的是，几乎没有旨在确定这种味觉四分法观点是否正确的研究。目前的这三项研究旨在从心理物理学层面提出这个问题，将味觉数据与似乎保持分离的音调组合进行比较；研究人员询问受试者：（a）味觉和音调（包括混合物）是被感知为单一的还是多种的，（b）混合物（味觉或音调）中成分数量的增加是否会导致感知到的复杂性增加，以及（c）刺激物（味觉或音调）在与其他刺激物混合时是否仍可识别。在所有这三个实验中，单个音调在组合中似乎保持清晰且未改变。味觉刺激与音调的组合方式截然不同，这表明原始成分失去了它们的特性，并且合成了除原始成分中的感觉（例如“基本味觉”）之外的其他感觉。由此可见，味觉是由多种感觉组成的，而不仅仅是“四种基本味觉”。
