Chemical Senses
Julie Harris
PSY/345
September 28, 2015
Adam Casteberry

Chemical Senses
Chemical sensory is the process by which the body experiences the world through the sense of smell and taste. The process the brain uses to perceive the smells and tastes that are introduced to it is through an electrical mapping of electrical impulses similar to the sense of touch, sight, or sound. Each sense is individual but through the interaction of each a more whole picture is produced that the brain stores as a memory. Most adults have their memories peppered with the smells and tastes that helped create those memories whether it was the first time a person was asked to be married, or the first time a person faced death, each experience is marked by a distinct taste or smell that will call up the memory and shape the person who holds it.
The process of chemical sensory is conducted mainly through the nose and mouth through a bombardment of sensations is experienced throughout each day. Once considered separate from each other as either the nose or mouth people have become aware of the connection between the two senses as being tied irrevocably to each other. Chemicals in foods are detected by pallia that we have labeled taste buds, small structures in the mouth that are embed in the tongue, the back of the mouth, and the palate (Society for Neuroscience, 2012). Each person has a range of 5,000 to 10,000 taste buds that consist of 50 to 10 sensory cells that are stimulated by tastants such as sugars, salts, or acids (Society for Neuroscience, 2012). Once stimulated these sensory cells send their signals to nerve fibers that in turn send impulses to the cranial nerves then on to the thalamus allowing humans to perceive the sense of taste. The sense of smell is perceived through air borne order molecules called odorants that are detected by neurons located in a