Taste‐olfactory convergence, and the representation of the pleasantness of flavour, in the human brain
Open accessAbstract
The functional architecture of the central taste and olfactory systems in primates provides evidence that the convergence of taste and smell information onto single neurons is realized in the caudal orbitofrontal cortex (and immediately adjacent agranular insula). These higher‐order association cortical areas thus support flavour processing. Much less is known, however, about homologous regions in the human cortex, or how taste–odour interactions, and thus flavour perception, are implemented in the human brain. We performed an event‐related fMRI study to investigate where in the human brain these interactions between taste and odour stimuli (administered retronasally) may be realized. The brain regions that were activated by both taste and smell included parts of the caudal orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, insular cortex and adjoining areas, and anterior cingulate cortex. It was shown that a small part of the anterior (putatively agranular) insula responds to unimodal taste and to unimodal olfactory stimuli, and that a part of the anterior frontal operculum is a unimodal taste area (putatively primary taste cortex) not activated by olfactory stimuli. Activations to combined olfactory and taste stimuli where there was little or no activation to either alone (providing positive evidence for interactions between the olfactory and taste inputs) were found in a lateral anterior part of the orbitofrontal cortex. Correlations with consonance ratings for the smell and taste combinations, and for their pleasantness, were found in a medial anterior part of the orbitofrontal cortex. These results provide evidence on the neural substrate for the convergence of taste and olfactory stimuli to produce flavour in humans, and where the pleasantness of flavour is represented in the human brain.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Neuroimaging evidence demonstrates convergence for taste and odour in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex.
“neuroimaging evidence has demonstrated that convergence for taste and odour occur in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex [146-148].”
From The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Sensory Factors in Sweetness Perception of Food and Beverages: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as [146]
For the full sensory impact of palatable food, and the subjective feeling of pleasure in humans, taste is integrated with other sensory modalities such as smell and mouth feel in forebrain areas including the amygdala, as well as primary and higher-order sensory cortical areas, including the insular and orbitofrontal cortex, to form sensory representations of particular foods.
“Clearly, for the full sensory impact of palatable food, and the subjective feeling of pleasure in humans, taste is integrated with other sensory modalities such as smell and mouth feel in forebrain areas including the amygdala, as well as primary and higher-order sensory cortical areas, including the insular and orbitofrontal cortex, to form sensory representations of particular foods ([43](#B43),”
From Food reward, hyperphagia, and obesity (2011) · cites this paper as [45]
Subjective pleasantness in humans is coded by neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex as measured by fMRI and is subject to sensory-specific satiety.
“Similarly, subjective pleasantness in humans was coded by neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex as measured by functional MRI (fMRI) and was subject to sensory-specific satiety, a form of reinforcer devaluation”
From Food reward, hyperphagia, and obesity (2011) · cites this paper as [45]
This medial OFC activation by rewarding stimuli is found for odours, flavour, pleasant touch, monetary reward and amphetamine.
“This is found for odours (Rolls et al., 2003a), flavour (de Araujo et al., 2003; Kringelbach et al., 2003), pleasant touch (Rolls et al., 2003b; McCabe et al., 2008), monetary reward (O’Doherty et al., 2001; Xie et al., 2020) and amphetamine (Völlm et al., 2004).”
From The orbitofrontal cortex: reward, emotion and depression (2020) · cites this paper as de Araujo et al., 2003
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 42 · Cited by 642
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Rolls, E.T. (1999) The Brain and Emotion. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Authors
- De Araujo, I. E. T., Rolls, E. T., Kringelbach, M. L., McGlone, F., & Phillips, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- John Radcliffe Hospital (GB)
- Bangor University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Rolls, Edmund T.
- Venue
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2003-10
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 2059-2068
- ISSN
- 0953-816X (ISSN-L)
- 1460-9568
- OpenAlex
- W2031520642
- Cited by
- 642
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 11.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- European Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Keywords
- flavor perception, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Emotions, Female, Flavoring Agents, Food Additives, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Olfactory Pathways, Smell, Sodium Glutamate, Stimulation, Chemical, Sucrose, Taste
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
