12. An incorrect scientific theory still commonly taught in schools across the United States, the tongue does not have separate taste centers for different sensations
A common misconception still taught today in some schools, the tongue map – also known as the taste map – asserted different sections of the human tongue are exclusively responsible for different basic tastes. Believed to originate from a poor translation by Harvard psychologist D.P. Hanig of a German paper written in 1901, Zur Psychophysik des Geschmackssinnes, the original German paper had merely identified minute differences in threshold detection across the tongue. Taken out of context, these tiny variations in sensitivity were transformed via Hanig’s poor representation into an erroneous suggestion each part of the tongue was selectively responsible.
Becoming a core part of both popular and academic understanding of the human sense of taste, it was not until 1974 the false theory was finally laid to rest. Investigated by Virginia Collings, a researcher from the University of Pittsburgh, Collings found that although there was a slight difference in the concentration of taste receptors, akin to the findings by the Germans decades earlier, the overall effect on taste was negligible. However, despite disproving the theory, demonstrating a full taste range exists on all parts of the tongue, it remains a frequent misconception and is often perpetuated via misinformed American popular culture and education.