The appreciation of wine by sommeliers: a functional magnetic resonance study of sensory integration.
We set out to investigate how the expertise of a sommelier is embodied in neural circuitry by comparing brain activity elicited by wine tasting with that found in naive drinkers of wine. We used fMRI to study 7 sommeliers and 7 age- and sex-matched control subjects to test the hypothesis that any difference in brain activity would reflect a learned ability to integrate information from gustatory and olfactory senses with past experience. A group analysis showed activation of a cerebral network involving the left insula and adjoining orbito-frontal cortex in sommeliers. Both these areas have been implicated in gustatory/olfactory integration in primates. In addition, activation was found bilaterally in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is implicated in high-level cognitive processes such as working memory and selection of behavioral strategies. Naive individuals activated the primary gustatory cortex and brain areas, including the amygdala, implicated in emotional processing.
Castriota-Scanderbeg
Alessandro
A
Department of Radiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy; Laboratory of Functional Neuroimaging, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy. scanderberg@hsantalucia.it
Hagberg
Gisela E
GE
Cerasa
Antonio
A
Committeri
Giorgia
G
Galati
Gaspare
G
Patria
Fabiana
F
Pitzalis
Sabrina
S
Caltagirone
Carlo
C
Frackowiak
Richard
R
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D014920:Wine