In a related experiment, the scientists were able to prevent the pucker face, even when the mouse was tasting something bitter, by zapping the "sweet" part of the brain.

I find this to be an interesting analog of the idea that "pain is in the brain."

Here are several other interesting facts (and some factoids!) about taste that inform my understanding of what causes pain and how to change it.

Taste is not just about the tongue

The sensory information that contributes to a sense of taste does not come solely from the tongue. The nose delivers a lot of information about what we are eating. The appearance of food matters as well - not just in making us want to take a bite, but in determining how that bite actually tastes.

Taste is therefore a great example of multi-sensory integration, which means that seemingly unified perceptions like sight, hearing and touch are built from many different sensory inputs. What we see affects what we hear, what we hear affects what we taste, and what we touch affects what we see.

So everything matters for taste. Bacon tastes better when it sounds crunchy. For me, beer tastes best when sunlight is shining through it, or I just won a soccer game. The finest culinary experience of my life was eating a hamburger after a long day of skiing.

Here’s a cool fact to keep in mind next time you are feeling oppressed by a wine snob: Even top wine experts have trouble telling reds from whites when food coloring is used to change its appearance. Ha! Next time someone tells you they detect the scent of cherries, or chocolate, tell them you detect a slight whiff of bullshit.