In 1901, David Hunnig published a paper that forever changed our understanding of taste. His research led to what we know today as the taste map, an illustration（说明） that divides the tongue into four separate areas. According（使一致） to this map, receptors（[生化] 受体） at the tip of our tongues capture（捕获） sweetness. Bitterness（苦味） is detected（察觉） at the tongue's base, and along the sides, receptors capture salty and sour sensations（感觉）. Since its invention, the taste map has been published in textbooks（教科书） and newspapers. The only problem with this map is that it's wrong.

  In fact, it's not even an accurate（准确的） representation（代表） of what Hunnig originally discovered. The tongue map is a common misconception（ 误解）, something widely（大大地） believed but largely（主要地） incorrect（不正确的）. So where do misconceptions like this come from, and what makes a fake（伪造的） fact so easy to believe? It's true that the tongue map's journey begins with David Hunnig. As part of his dissertation（ 专题论文） at Leipzig University, Hunnig analyzed taste sensitivities（ 敏感） across the tongue for the four basic flavors. Using sucrose for sweet, quinine sulfate（硫酸盐） for bitter（ 有苦味的）, hydrochloric acid（酸） for sour, and salt for salty, Hunnig applied these stimuli（刺激物） to compare differences in taste thresholds（入口） across a subject's tongue.

  He hoped to better understand the physiological（生理学的） mechanisms（机制） that affected these four flavors, and his data suggested that sensitivity for each taste did in fact vary（改变） across the tongue. The maximum（最大的） sensation（感觉） for sweet was located at the tongue's tip. Bitter flavors were strongest at the back, salt was strongest in this area, and sour at the middle of the tongue's sides.