The brain is in control: Visual Perception and Taste Buds

Visual perception had always been something that I thought was relatively the same across all people who have typically functioning vision. When the white/gold or black/blue dress dilemma first came out, that thought I had as a child was proven to be wrong. The article titled "The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress" by Adam Rogers debunked the reasons on why people see this differently.  From this article, something I found interesting was the change in hues of daylight throughout the day. As a result of this, people try to figure out what hues need to be discounted due to what hue of light this picture was taken in. depending on the discounted light the brain decides, results in either the dress appearing gold and white or blue and black. From this conclusion, I can better understand that the brain is in total control of how we see the word and just how powerful it can be.

            The brain is also in charge of processing specific tastes. This sense is important for me because I love branching out and tasting different types of foods in my leisure time. Apart from leisure, our sense of taste is critical for keeping us alive. Most people understand that there are 5 tastes we interpret: sour, salty, savory, sweet, and bitter. As we evolve and learn, we can navigate all of these tastes to know what we can and can’t consume. For example, most things that taste bitter can harm us if ingested but we can learn to know there are some bitter flavors like coffee that are consumable. Sweet flavors are essential for us and that’s why we like it so much. Sugars are carbohydrates which is our energy source, therefore essential for survival. Nicole Garneau is trying to bring attention to a specific taste that is not widely recognized, and that taste is fat. Fat is something that we all need for our bodies to function properly. It makes sense as to why we can taste it, because how else would we know what our bodes need it if wasn’t distinguishable. This is the first time I had ever heard of this concept, but I think it is groundbreaking. I think this will open so many new doors on food research and taste testing. I am interested to see how experimentation progresses in the future and if there will be any breakthroughs in food taste manipulation. Understanding the complexity of the brain is a big task but little by little we are coming to understand its incredible mechanisms and how it controls every interaction we have in this world.