Neural processing of gustatory information in insular circuits
Open accessAbstract
The insular cortex is the primary cortical site devoted to taste processing. A large body of evidence is available for how insular neurons respond to gustatory stimulation in both anesthetized and behaving animals. Most of the reports describe broadly tuned neurons that are involved in processing the chemosensory, physiological and psychological aspects of gustatory experience. However little is known about how these neural responses map onto insular circuits. Particularly mysterious is the functional role of the three subdivisions of the insular cortex: the granular, the dysgranular and the agranular insular cortices. In this article we review data on the organization of the local and long-distance circuits in the three subdivisions. The functional significance of these results is discussed in light of the latest electrophysiological data. A view of the insular cortex as a functionally integrated system devoted to processing gustatory, multimodal, cognitive and affective information is proposed.
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The insula is intricately involved in gustatory processing and mediates taste perception.
“The insula is intricately involved in gustatory processing and mediates taste perception [5,35].”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [5]
The insula receives inputs from gustatory, auditory, visual, olfactory, and somatosensory modalities.
“It receives inputs from a variety of sensory modalities, encompassing gustatory, auditory, visual, olfactory, and somatosensory signals [5,[34][35][36][37][38].”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [5]
The granular insular region is typically associated with somatosensory and perceptual processing.
“The GI region is typically associated with somatosensory and perceptual processing [5,19,20].”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [5]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Maffei, A., Haley, M., & Fontanini, A.
- Affiliations
- State University of New York (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fontanini, Alfredo
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-08
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 709-716
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3438322
- OpenAlex
- W2058904085
- Cited by
- 123
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC010389, R03DC008885)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Ion Channels and Receptors
- Keywords
- insula, taste processing, multimodal integration, emotional processing, cognitive processes
- MeSH terms
- Afferent Pathways, Animals, Cerebral Cortex, Humans, Neurons, Taste, Gastrointestinal Tract
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