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fMRI Study of Taste Cortical Areas in Humans
Author(s) -
Faurion Annick,
Cerf Barbara,
Le Bihan Denis,
Pilliasa AnneMarie
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb10623.x
Subject(s) - postcentral gyrus , functional magnetic resonance imaging , psychology , insula , perception , taste , neuroscience , audiology , sensory system , thalamus , cognitive psychology , medicine
We used 3 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with echo planar imaging to map taste projections in the human. Activations were found surrounding and buried in the sylvian fissure; the upper part of insula, the frontal operculum, and the foot of the pre‐ and postcentral gyri were usually activated. Moreover, we could describe, for the first time, a lateralized associative projection located in the lower part of the dominant hemisphere of the subject ( n = 10). We also observed activations in the anterior cingulate gyrus, the centromedial thalamus, and other areas related to emotional or cognitive processes. Thirty subjects were submitted to a familiarization experiment sampling neophobic and nonneophobic stimuli. Measurements of isointense concentrations, magnitude estimates and hedonic values were assessed repetitively for 10 weeks. Five subjects performed 3 fMRI experiments, before, during and after familiarization. Psychophysical data showed a relationship between the evolution of the hedonic assessment and the intensity of the perception, and fMRI results showed a relationship between the evolution of the hedonic assessment and the evolution of the percent of activated pixels in taste cortical area.