So the other day I found myself eating broccoli and liking it, I had to stop and wonder where

有一天，我自己在吃花椰菜而且發現自己喜歡它，我不得不停下來和懷疑

did I go wrong in life? What happened to my tastebuds?

我究竟在生命哪裡出錯了？我的味蕾究竟發生了什麼？

Right now, there are thousands of tastebuds on your tongue, some estimates say as many

現在，有數千的味蕾在你舌頭上，有人估計最多可達到

as 10,000. And no you don’t have specific areas of your tongue for certain flavors,

一萬個那麼多。然而你的舌頭不會有對特定味道特別敏感的區域。

the taste buds are all kind of mixed together.

but when you look at your tongue, those little bumps are little clumps of taste buds,

當你看著自己的舌頭，那些小小的凸點就是小小的味蕾團，

which each contain 50-100 taste cells, kind of like a head of broccoli.

一個團大約有50到100個味覺細胞，有點像花椰菜的頭。

One study got up close and personal with these miniscule mysteries. Tastebuds look kind of

一項研究發現個人與這些味覺細胞微乎其微的奧秘。                             味蕾看起來好像

like little bulbs, little flowers, with receptor cells looking like the petals surrounded by

小燈泡，小花，被血細胞包圍的受體細胞看起來像花瓣

blood cells which in turn is surrounded by collagen.

而血細胞是被膠原蛋白包圍着。

These taste cells take chemical signals from the food you eat and send it to taste centers

這些味覺細胞從你吃過的食物中獲取化學信號，然後將傳送信號到

in your brain. Seriously, there’s a place in your brain just for tasting called the

你腦中的味覺中樞。認真的，在你腦中就有個區域叫做

Speaking of broccoli though, like when I was little I hated broccoli, like hated it. Now

說回花椰菜，小時候我很討厭花椰菜，我是認真的，沒有開玩笑。現在

So anyways, have my taste buds changed as I grew up? Well yeah, kind of. It’s no secret

怎樣都好，我成長的同時我的口味改變了？是的，某種程度是。小朋友喜歡甜食不是秘密。

kids like sweet things. But maybe it’s biology. One study published in the journal Physiology

但是可能是生物學。在生理學周刊發表的一項研究，

Behavior, found that growing bones release hormones that cause children to crave the

發現正在生長的骨頭會釋放荷爾蒙從而導致小朋友對甜食的渴望。

sweets. That way their growing body get the energy it needs. The researchers also found

這樣他們就可以獲取成長所需要的營養。                     研究人員也發現

that that in people whose bones stopped growing, they had less of those hormones. So maybe

一旦人們的骨頭停止生長，他們荷爾蒙水平會降低。                                                     那麼也許

that’s why adults find overly sweet things sickening and prefer other flavors like delicious

這就是為什麼大人們發現過甜的東西讓人做嘔和喜歡其他味道例如美味而

As for your actual taste buds, well the cells in your tastebuds don't last for long, they

像你真實的口味一樣，口味中的細胞不會存活很久。                                                他們

change all the time. The average lifespan is anywhere from a few days to a month.

一直都在改變。          他們的平均壽命是幾天到一個月。

But a lot, I mean a lot of things can affect your sense of taste. From, temperature, to

但是已經很多了，我指的是可以影響你味覺的東西。                  從，溫度，到

That Gustatory cortex I mentioned takes in information from a lot of different sources

先前我說的味覺皮層會從不同方面獲取信息

And memory affects taste too. There’s a thing called conditioned taste aversion or

記憶也會影響味覺。                 有一樣都係叫條件下厭惡味道 或者

CTA. Most of us have experienced this, for example my sister hates buffalo chicken dip,

CTA.  我們大多數人都經歷過，例如：我妹妹討厭水牛城雞翅，

I mean hates it, because a few years ago she ate it around the same time she got a nasty

我指十分討厭，因為幾年前她吃了之後她得了討厭的

stomach flu. So now a circuit in her amygdala is like, GIRL DO NOT EAT THAT DIP, YOU WILL

急性腸胃炎。 因此現在她條件反射就好像：            女生吃水牛城雞翅，你會

GET SICK. And a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that that negative associate

生病。        另外在神經科學周刊發表的一項研究發現負面聯繫會

is particularly strong if you’re in the same place as that bad experience.

特別強如果你在同一地方有類似悲慘的經歷。

Not to get all evolutionary psychology on you, but that makes sense. If our ancestors

不是讓你明白所有的進化心理學，但是他們有道理。                            如果我們的祖先

wandering about savannah came across some bad berries, they’d be more likely to survive

懷疑經過草原有些壞的野果，他們很可能生存下來

if their brain associated that place and berry with throwing up or something so they wouldn’t

如果他們大腦聯想到這個地方和扔掉的野果或者其他東西，那麼他們不會

but on the other hand, good experiences might make food taste better, so if you want to

但是另一方面， 好的經歷可能會讓食物吃起來感覺好一些，那麼如果有一天你想

one day get your kid to like vegetables, make it fun! Like put broccoli on top of mashed

你的孩子喜歡蔬菜，讓它變得有趣!                         例如把花椰菜放在搗碎的馬鈴薯山頂端

potato mountains so it looks like a little landscape.. okay yeah you know what… I don’t

這樣看起來就像小小景觀.... 好是的，你知道嗎......我不

認為你可以將蔬菜變得那麼有趣.

So no, that whole your taste buds change every 7 years is a bit of wives tale. Your taste

那麼不是，你整個味蕾每七年改變是有點無稽之談。                                          你的味蕾

buds change all the time, and a lot of things affect the how something actually tastes.

一直都在改變，而且很多東西都會影響食物的真實味道。

To learn more about how music can make you taste things differently, check out this great

想知道更多關於音樂能影響你品嚐食物的所引起的不同，                          去Britlab觀看我們朋友

video from our friends over at BritLab, it’s blew my mind, go watch it, i really recommend

的影片，                                               它令我吃驚， 去看吧，我十分推薦

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