Senses For each of the special senses, understand how a stimulus is received and then transmitted to the brain Solution Special senses are the senses that have specialised organs devoted to them like vision (eye), hearing and balance (ear) , smell( nose) , taste( tongue). Information from special senses is carried in special somatic afferents and special visceral afferents. Taste sensation: Chemoreceptors located in the taste buds of the tongue; a. they detect chemicals present in food and in saliva b. Sweet, sour, bitter and salty are four basic tastes c. Pathways; Facial and Glossopharyngeal nerves in temporal and parietal lobes 4. Smell sensation: Chemoreceptors in the upper nasal cavities detect volatile (vaporized) chemicals a. Pathways: Olfactory nerves to olfactory bulbs connected to olfactory areas in the temporal lobe b. Smell and taste sensations are synergistic.