How do your taste-buds work?

Answer 1

Taste buds work because of chemical action on the tongue. Taste buds are made of taste cells; these cells have taste hairs on them which are receptors for taste molecules. These hairs go into a taste pore on the surface of the tongue. Taste cells synapse with sensory nerve fibers, and stimulatory neurotransmitters are released to the brain, and the brain interprets these messages as taste. The taste pore must be flooded for this process to start, so the food molecules must either be moist, or they must be combined with saliva.

More specifically, the facial nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve and the vagus nerve accumulate sensory information from the taste buds, and taste fibers send this information to the solitary nucleus in the medulla oblongata; the information is then taken to nuclei in the hypothalamus, amygdala and the thalamus. The thalamus routes the sensory information to the insula and postcentral gyrus of the cerebrum, and the individual can then become aware of the taste of the food he or she is eating.