Below is a link to the forthcoming BBS target article, "A study of the science of taste: On the origins and influence of core ideas" by Robert P. Erickson This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. ===================================================================================== ** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ** ===================================================================================== NOTE: Due to technical difficulties with the Online Commentary Proposal System, please respond to this call by email. 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The commentary invitation list is compiled by the Editors so as to balance proposals, areas of expertise, and frequency of prior commentaries in BBS. The Calls are sent to 10,000 BBS Associates, so there is no expectation (indeed, it would be calamitous) that each recipient should comment on every occasion! Hence there is no need to reply except if you wish to comment, or to suggest someone to comment. If you are not a BBS Associate, please approach a current BBS Associate (there are currently over 10,000 worldwide) who is familiar with your work to nominate you. All past BBS authors, referees and commentators are eligible to become BBS Associates. An electronic list of current BBS Associates is available at this location to help you select a name: http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html ======================================================================= ** TARGET ARTICLE INFORMATION ** ======================================================================= TITLE: A study of the science of taste: On the origins and influence of core ideas AUTHORS: Robert P. Erickson ABSTRACT: Our understanding of the sense of taste is largely based on research designed and interpreted in terms of the traditional four “basic” tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter, and now a few more. This concept of basic tastes has no rational definition to test, and thus it has not been tested. As a demonstration, a preliminary attempt to test one common but arbitrary psychophysical definition of basic tastes is included in this paper; that the basic tastes are unique in being able to account for other tastes. This definition was falsified in that other stimuli do about as well as the basic words and stimuli. To the extent that this finding might show analogies with other studies of receptor, neural, and psychophysical phenomena, the validity of the century-long literature of the science of taste based on a few “basics” is called into question. The possible origins, meaning and influence of this concept are discussed. Tests of the model with control studies are suggested in all areas of taste related to basic tastes. As a stronger alternative to the basic tradition, the advantages of the across-fiber pattern model are discussed; it is based on a rational data-based hypothesis, and has survived attempts at falsification. Such “population coding” has found broad acceptance in many neural systems. KEYWORDS: across-fiber pattern, basic tastes, distributed neural coding, population coding, psychophysics, receptors, reductionism, systems biology, taste FULL TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Erickson-12292006/Referees/ ===================================================================================== ** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ** ===================================================================================== NOTE: Due to technical difficulties with the Online Commentary Proposal System, please respond to this call by email. To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, you must send us an indication of: 1) the relevant expertise you would bring to bear on the paper 2) which aspect of the paper you would anticipate commenting upon Please note that we only request expertise information in order to simplify the selection process. Commentators must be BBS Associates or suggested by a BBS Associate. 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