Functional imaging of gustatory perception and imagery: "top-down" processing of gustatory signals.
By recalling gustatory memories, it is possible to generate vivid gustatory perceptions in the absence of gustatory inputs. This gustatory image influences our gustatory processing. However, the mechanism of the "top-down" modulation of gustatory perception in the human is still unclear. Our findings propose a new perspective on the neural basis of gustatory processing. Although gustatory imagery and gustatory perception shared common parts of neural substrates, there was an asymmetrical topography of activation in the insula: the left insula was predominantly activated by gustatory imagery tasks. In addition, the middle and superior frontal gyri were not activated by gustatory perception but they participated in the generation of gustatory hallucinations. These regions in the frontal cortex may mediate the "top-down" control of retrieving gustatory information from the storage of long-term memories.
Kobayashi
Masayuki
M
Department of Oral Physiology, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. masayuki@dent.osaka-u.ac.jp
Takeda
Masaki
M
Hattori
Noriaki
N
Fukunaga
Masaki
M
Sasabe
Tetsuya
T
Inoue
Noriko
N
Nagai
Yasuo
Y
Sawada
Tohru
T
Sadato
Norihiro
N
Watanabe
Yasuyoshi
Y
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*
D010100:Oxygen