Sensory Development

Taste and smell are chemical senses; they process information by processing chemical changes in the air and in objects on the tongue. These are primitive sensory systems that are intimately involved with early developmental activities such as feeding, eating, and recognizing family members compared to strangers. In this way, these are protective senses; they enable the organism to survive, both through recognizing familiarity for safety purposes and by enabling the infant to identify food for nourishment.

The taste buds become apparent during the eighth week of gestation, and by the fourteenth week the taste sensation is formed. At birth, infants express positive and aversive facial responses to tastes. The sense of smell is apparent at birth as an infant begins to recognize and prefers its mother's scent. As infants begin to develop, it is important to observe their reaction to the different sensations of sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, as well as to textures, to know what they like or dislike.

Taste is a chemical sense that allows humans to process information through different sensations—such as sweet or salty—as well as textures. (Robert J. Huffman/Field Mark Publications)