你有没有尝过自己的舌头？

你有没有尝过自己的舌头？

这个问题听上去似乎很荒谬，但也并不是毫无道理。在13世纪时，印度的神秘主义者Dnyaneshwar甚至用这一问题来思考存在的本质。我们都知道，正如耳朵、眼睛、鼻子和皮肤等器官一样，舌头也是我们体验这个世界的主要工具之一。并且，它已经形成了自己固定的工作模式。

The same riddle is frequently applied to the eye, though we can certainly see our own eyes in reflection. We can feel our own skin, though certainly the tip of your left index finger can't touch itself. The ear certainly can't hear itself, but neither does it make a sound. The tongue, however, lurks in our mouth like a laired beast, flip-flopping its way through our daily conversation, tasting our food and occasionally dislodging a little of it from our teeth.

虽然我们可以在镜子里看到自己的眼睛，但同样的疑问也常被用在眼睛上。尽管你的左手食指不能触摸到它自己，但我们至少能通过其它方式感受自己的皮肤。还有我们的耳朵虽然也听不到它自己的声音，但这是因为它自己并不会发声。但舌头不一样，它就像一头奇怪的野兽一样潜伏在我们的嘴里，它不仅在我们谈话时翻转移动，还品尝着我们塞进嘴的各种食物。

Perhaps we're more inclined to ponder the mystery of the tongue due to its hidden nature or the many lingering myths regarding its functionality. Tongue rolling, for instance, is not the simple genetic trait that we often chalk it up to be. Nor is the tongue our strongest muscle (and while we're at it, it's a collection of muscles). Neither is the tongue laid out like a simple map, with different zones for sweet, salty, sour and bitter. One of the biggest misconceptions about the tongue, however, is that it rules alone in its governance of flavor sensations.

也许我们之所以更倾向于考虑舌头的神秘性，可能是因为我们对舌头有些一些误解。例如，卷舌并不只是我们所认为的简单遗传特征。舌头也不并是我们最强壮的肌肉，而是一团肌肉的集合。还有，舌头并不像一张简单的地图那样，被划为不同的甜、咸、酸和苦区。不过，要说人们对舌头最大的误解，那就是舌头独自负责味觉系统。

The receptor cells in our taste buds certainly carry out the chemical sensation of taste, but they're located on the bumpy external surface of our tongue. They're not able to turn those powers inward on themselves. They collect tactile and thermal details about any morsel that enters their domain. But the brain also depends upon your sense of smell to interpret flavor, so the tongue isn't alone in its taste mission.

我们味蕾中的受体细胞确实负责味觉的化学部分，但这些部分仅仅停留在舌头那凹凸不平的外表面。这些受体细胞无法让你“感同身受”，它们只负责收集任何进入它们领域的食物所带来的触觉和热量细节。最终，大脑还要依赖你的嗅觉来“解释”味道。因此，舌头并不是一个人在为味觉系统负责。

Your tongue certainly can taste food or the remnants of food in your mouth. Accidentally bite your tongue, and you can taste the blood trickling out of its own wound. (Fun fact: All that saliva and those blood vessels in your mouth seem to allow for quick healing.) You can also taste your own saliva, and who hasn't had a bad taste in their mouth, whether from some aggressive garlic or an underlying medical condition? And yes, lovebirds, you can pick up on all these sensations during an open-mouth kiss, but you'll still find yourself at pains to taste an actual living tongue.

当然了，你的舌头确实可以尝到嘴巴里的食物或者食物残渣。如果你不小心咬破舌头，你还能尝到伤口流出的血液。同时，你也可以尝到自己的唾液，不管是略带侵略的大蒜味还是病理性的奇怪味道。而且当你舌吻时，你会发现自己真的尝到了对方活生生的舌头。但是，你就是没办法尝到自己的舌头。

Psychologists also talk about the concept of habituation, or the idea that if a stimulus is presented often enough or long enough we learn to ignore it, like the scent you spritz on before you leave the house that everyone but you can still smell later on in the day. The inability to taste our tongues could be an example of that phenomenon, but tongue experts were strangely silent when we reached out for answers.

为了问答这个问题，心理学家提到了习惯性。也就是说，如果一个刺激作用在我们身上的时间足够长，我们就会学会忽略它。就像你在出门前喷的香水，你只在刚喷的时候能闻到。之后你便闻不到了，但是你身边的每个人却都能闻到，我们无法品尝自己的舌头可能就和这种现象一样。