Final answer:
Sensory taste cells at the front of the tongue connect to the facial nerve, while the glossopharyngeal cranial nerves connect to taste buds in the posterior areas. These nerves synapse with the solitary nucleus, with further connections to the thalamus and the gustatory cortex for taste perception.
Step-by-step explanation:
Axons from sensory taste cells at the front of the tongue merge to form the facial nerve. The gustatory pathway involves the activation of gustatory cells by taste molecules, which release neurotransmitters onto the dendrites of sensory neurons associated with the facial and glossopharyngeal cranial nerves, as well as a component within the vagus nerve specifically related to the gag reflex.
The facial nerve is responsible for taste sensations in the anterior third of the tongue, while the glossopharyngeal nerve connects to taste buds in the posterior two-thirds. These nerves then synapse with neurons of the solitary nucleus in the brain stem. Axons from the solitary nucleus project to the ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus, and subsequently, axons from the thalamus project to the gustatory cortex of the cerebral cortex for taste processing and perception.