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State dependence of olfactory perception as a function of taste cortical inactivation

Nature Neuroscience volume 13, pages 158–159 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

As anyone who has suffered through a head cold knows, food eaten when the olfactory system is impaired tastes 'wrong', an experience that leads many to conclude that taste stimuli are processed normally only when the olfactory system is unimpaired. Evidence that the taste system influences olfactory perception, however, has been vanishingly rare. We found just such an influence; if taste cortex was inactivated when an odor was first presented, later presentations were properly appreciated only if taste cortex was again inactivated.

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Figure 1: Food preferences are socially transmitted through odor cues.
Figure 2: STFP depends on taste cortex.
Figure 3: State dependency of olfactory processing.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Neuroscience, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

    Yaihara Fortis-Santiago, Benjamin A Rodwin, Selin Neseliler, Caitlin E Piette & Donald B Katz

  2. Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

    Yaihara Fortis-Santiago, Selin Neseliler, Caitlin E Piette & Donald B Katz

  3. Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

    Donald B Katz

Authors
  1. Yaihara Fortis-Santiago
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  2. Benjamin A Rodwin
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  3. Selin Neseliler
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  4. Caitlin E Piette
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  5. Donald B Katz
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Contributions

Y.F.-S. performed and analyzed the experiments and wrote the manuscript with D.B.K. (who guided the experiments). B.A.R. contributed data and analysis of temporarily ageusic rats and assisted C.E.P. with the electrophysiology. S.N. performed histology and imaging experiments.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donald B Katz.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–7, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 516 kb)

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Fortis-Santiago, Y., Rodwin, B., Neseliler, S. et al. State dependence of olfactory perception as a function of taste cortical inactivation. Nat Neurosci 13, 158–159 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2463

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