Spatially Distributed Representation of Taste Quality in the Gustatory Insular Cortex of Behaving Mice
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Abstract
Visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortices are topographically organized, with neurons responding to similar sensory features clustering in adjacent portions of the cortex. Such topography has not been observed in the piriform cortex, whose responses to odorants are sparsely distributed across the cortex. The spatial organization of taste responses in the gustatory insular cortex (GC) is currently debated, with conflicting evidence from anesthetized rodents pointing to alternative and mutually exclusive models. Here, we rely on calcium imaging to determine how taste and task-related variables are represented in the superficial layers of GC of alert, licking mice. Our data show that the various stimuli evoke sparse responses from a combination of broadly and narrowly tuned neurons. Analysis of the distribution of responses over multiple spatial scales demonstrates that taste representations are distributed across the cortex, with no sign of spatial clustering or topography. Altogether, data presented here support the idea that the representation of taste qualities in GC of alert mice is sparse and distributed, analogous to the representation of odorants in piriform cortex.
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Human and mouse imaging studies have shown that taste quality is not represented topographically, but by a distributed population code in the insula.
“Instead, human and mouse imaging studies have shown that taste quality is not represented topographically, but by a distributed population code in the insula [39,41].”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
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The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Chen, K., Kogan, J. F., & Fontanini, A.
- Affiliations
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Stony Brook School (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Ke
- Fontanini, Alfredo
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 247-256.e4
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7855361
- OpenAlex
- W3106104252
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13
- FWCI
- 6.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- erratum (2021-01-25)
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- 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
- spatial topography, sparse coding, distributed representations, piriform cortex, calcium imaging, licking behavior
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Male, Neurons, Odorants, Taste, Models, Animal, Mice, Taste Perception, Optical Imaging, Spatial Analysis, Piriform Cortex
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