Cited by 712Multisensory perception and integrationOlfactory and Sensory Function StudiesTactile and Sensory Interactions

Odor/taste integration and the perception of flavor

Small, Dana M., Prescott, John·2005·Experimental Brain Research

Abstract

Perceptions of the flavors of foods or beverages reflect information derived from multiple sensory afferents, including gustatory, olfactory, and somatosensory fibers. Although flavor perception therefore arises from the central integration of multiple sensory inputs, it is possible to distinguish the different modalities contributing to flavor, especially when attention is drawn to particular sensory characteristics. Nevertheless, our experiences of the flavor of a food or beverage are also simultaneously of an overall unitary perception. Research aimed at understanding the mechanisms behind this integrated flavor perception is, for the most part, relatively recent. However, psychophysical, neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies on cross-modal sensory interactions involved in flavor perception have started to provide an understanding of the integrated activity of sensory systems that generate such unitary perceptions, and hence the mechanisms by which these signals are "functionally united when anatomically separated". Here we review this recent research on odor/taste integration, and propose a model of flavor processing that depends on prior experience with the particular combination of sensory inputs, temporal and spatial concurrence, and attentional allocation. We propose that flavor perception depends upon neural processes occurring in chemosensory regions of the brain, including the anterior insula, frontal operculum, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, as well as upon the interaction of this chemosensory "flavor network" with other heteromodal regions including the posterior parietal cortex and possibly the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex.

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Crossref · 10.1007/s00221-005-2376-9

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Authors
Small, D. M., & Prescott, J.
Affiliations
  • Yale University (US)
  • James Cook University (AU)
Corresponding author
Prescott, John
Venue
Experimental Brain Research
Published
2005-07-19
Volume
166
Issue
3-4
Pages
345-357
ISSN
  • 0014-4819 (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-1106
OpenAlex
W2048553159
Cited by
712
References
132
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 31
FWCI
25.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Experimental Brain Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Ines Mandl Research Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health (5r03dc006169-03)
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC-006169-01)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
Keywords
flavor perception, taste perception, olfaction, somatosensory perception, anterior insula, frontal operculum, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior parietal cortex, attention
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain, Food, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Models, Neurological, Odorants, Smell, Taste

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