Abstract

Whenever food is placed in the mouth, taste receptors are stimulated. Simultaneously, different types of sensory fibre that monitor several food attributes such as texture, temperature and odour are activated. Here, we evaluate taste and oral somatosensory peripheral transduction mechanisms as well as the multi-sensory integrative functions of the central pathways that support the complex sensations that we usually associate with gustation. On the basis of recent experimental data, we argue that these brain circuits make use of distributed ensemble codes that represent the sensory and post-ingestive properties of tastants.

Author affiliations

1. Sidney A. Simon is at the Departments of Neurobiology and Anesthesiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
2. Ivan E. de Araujo is at the Department of Neurobiology and the Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
3. Ranier Gutierrez is at the Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
4. Miguel A. L. Nicolelis is at the Departments of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychological and Brain Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

Correspondence to: Sidney A. Simon¹ Email: sas@neuro.duke.edu

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