---
title: "Supertasters — AP Psychology Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "Supertasters have extra taste receptors and heightened sensitivity to flavors. Learn how this fits gustation, sensation, and absolute threshold for AP Psych Unit 1."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-psych-revised/key-terms/supertasters"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP Psychology"
unit: "Unit 1"
---

# Supertasters — AP Psychology Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

In AP Psychology, supertasters are people with a high density of taste receptors on the tongue, giving them heightened sensitivity to tastes (especially bitterness), at the most sensitive end of the supertaster, medium taster, and nontaster spectrum.

## What It Is

Supertasters are people whose tongues are packed with more [taste receptors](/ap-psych-revised/unit-1/6-sensation/study-guide/AqnAHVH2Nu3Kj5jb "fv-autolink") than average, so the same bite of food hits them harder. A bitter vegetable that's mildly annoying to most people can taste overwhelming to a supertaster. Spicy food can feel unbearable. This isn't pickiness, it's biology.

The CED puts supertasters under **[gustation](/ap-psych-revised/key-terms/gustation "fv-autolink")** (the sense of taste) in topic 1.6. The number of taste receptors on the tongue is directly tied to how sensitive someone is to tastes, which sorts people into three groups: supertasters (most receptors, most sensitive), medium tasters (the middle range, where most people land), and nontasters (fewest receptors, least sensitive). The six basic tastes the CED lists are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus (fat). Supertasters detect all of these at lower intensities than everyone else.

## Why It Matters

Supertasters live in **[Unit 1](/ap-psych-revised/unit-1 "fv-autolink"): Biological Bases of Behavior**, specifically topic 1.6 Sensation, and they support learning objective **[AP Psych Revised](/ap-psych-revised "fv-autolink") 1.6.D**, which asks you to explain how the chemical sensory systems relate to behavior and mental processes. The big-picture point is that structure shapes experience. More receptors equals more sensitivity equals a different lived reality of food. That's a clean example of how biology drives behavior, the throughline of the entire unit. Supertasters also connect to the broader sensation idea from **1.6.A**: detection depends on thresholds, and a supertaster's lower threshold for taste means they cross it with less stimulus.

## Connections

### Gustation and the basic tastes (Unit 1)

Supertaster is a category you can't define without gustation. It's literally a measure of how many gustatory receptors you have. The classification only makes sense once you know taste is detected by receptors on the tongue that [transduce](/ap-psych-revised/key-terms/transduction "fv-autolink") sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus.

### [Absolute threshold (Unit 1)](/ap-psych-revised/key-terms/absolute-threshold)

[Absolute threshold](/ap-psych-revised/key-terms/absolute-threshold "fv-autolink") is the smallest amount of stimulus you can detect at least 50% of the time. A supertaster has a lower absolute threshold for taste, so they pick up faint bitterness that a nontaster's tongue completely misses.

### [Transduction (Unit 1)](/ap-psych-revised/key-terms/transduction)

Every sense works by transduction, converting physical stimuli into neural signals [the brain](/ap-psych-revised/unit-1/4-the-brain/study-guide/zffu0vU5m7HwEMsU "fv-autolink") can read. Supertasters just have more receptors doing that conversion for taste, so more flavor information gets sent up to the brain.

### Olfaction and the chemical senses working together (Unit 1)

Taste and smell are both chemical senses and they team up to create flavor. So a supertaster's intense food experience isn't pure taste, it's taste plus smell combining, which is why the CED groups gustation and olfaction together under 1.6.D.

## On the AP Exam

Expect supertasters in multiple-choice questions, not free-response. The classic stem describes a scenario and asks you to name the classification. You'll see something like a person who experiences intense flavors from tiny amounts of food and finds spicy or bitter foods overwhelming, then you pick "supertaster." A flip version describes someone who finds the same food bland and points you toward "nontaster," or describes the middle of the range and points to "medium taster." Your job is to match receptor density to sensitivity: more receptors means supertaster, fewer means nontaster, and most people sit in the medium range. No released FRQ uses the term verbatim, but it's solid evidence for any prompt asking how biological structures shape sensory experience.

## supertasters vs nontasters

These are opposite ends of the same spectrum. Supertasters have a high density of taste receptors and heightened sensitivity, so flavors hit hard. Nontasters have few receptors and low sensitivity, so the same food tastes bland. Medium tasters sit between them, and that's where most people fall.

## Key Takeaways

- Supertasters have a high density of taste receptors on the tongue, giving them heightened sensitivity to tastes, especially bitterness.
- The three classifications based on receptor density are supertasters (most receptors), medium tasters (the largest group), and nontasters (fewest receptors).
- Supertasters fall under gustation in topic 1.6 and support learning objective AP Psych Revised 1.6.D on the chemical senses.
- More taste receptors means a lower absolute threshold for taste, so supertasters detect flavors at lower intensities than other people.
- On the exam, you'll match a described taste experience to the right classification, with intense and overwhelming flavors signaling a supertaster.

## FAQs

### What is a supertaster in AP Psychology?

A supertaster is a person with a high density of taste receptors on the tongue, which makes them more sensitive to tastes than average. They sit at the most sensitive end of the spectrum that runs from supertaster to medium taster to nontaster, and they fall under gustation in topic 1.6.

### Is being a supertaster a good thing?

Not necessarily. Supertasters experience flavors more intensely, which sounds like an advantage, but it often means bitter vegetables and spicy foods feel overwhelming and unpleasant. On the exam it's just a neutral biological category, not a skill.

### What is the difference between a supertaster and a nontaster?

They're opposite ends of the same scale. Supertasters have many taste receptors and high sensitivity, so flavors are intense. Nontasters have few receptors and low sensitivity, so the same food tastes bland. Most people are medium tasters in between.

### Why do supertasters taste things more strongly?

Because they have more gustatory receptors transducing the chemicals in food into neural signals. More receptors means more flavor information reaching the brain, which lowers their absolute threshold for detecting tastes like bitterness.

### Do supertasters use taste alone to experience flavor?

No. Flavor combines taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction), which are both chemical senses that work together. A supertaster's intense food experience is taste and smell teaming up, which is why the CED covers gustation and olfaction together under learning objective 1.6.D.

## Related Study Guides

- [1.6 Sensation](/ap-psych-revised/unit-1/6-sensation/study-guide/AqnAHVH2Nu3Kj5jb)

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