Figure 5. Tongue shapes in feeding as presented in Abd El Malek (1955). These drawings were based on still photographic images taken from a single subject. The upper pair of drawings shows the shape of the tongue as food is about to enter the mouth: The anterior tongue surface is hollowed to receive the ‘bite’, and the back is heaped. This shape is seen in VFG records as Stage I Transport is initiated. The bite is cradled in the depression on the tongue surface during ‘pull back’ (see text) until ‘tipped’ onto the occlusal surface of the post-canines by tongue movements analogous to those shown in the lower drawings. The lower pair of drawings illustrates the movements of the tongue as it rotates about its postero-anterior long axis and ‘tips’ the food onto the active side post-canine cheek teeth during processing. This behavior occurs in most chewing cycles, but when the bite is moved to the other side, the rotated tongue ‘collects’ the food and, by twisting in the other direction, ‘tips’ it onto the other post-canine occlusal table. Reproduced from Abd-el-Malek (1995), with permission from Blackwell Publishing.