# Temporal Coding and Palatability in Gustatory Cortex

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $428,801

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
We like to think of taste as working relatively simply—a sweet taste is recognized as sweet by virtue of
activating certain cells on the tongue, and that information is used to drive neurons that cause us to eat
more of whatever food is in our mouths. The truth, however, is much more interesting: a taste hits the
tongue, and complex circuits in the brain go into action, passing food-related information back and forth as
the system as a whole decides whether the morsel is palatable enough to swallow. My lab studies this
process by recording from multiple parts of the taste system while active rats are sampling various tastes.
We have observed this decision-making process in action in taste cortex, where neural ensembles report,
in turn, that a taste is on the tongue, that the taste is (say) sugar, and that it (the rat) currently likes the
taste; this last step appears to be one arrived at suddenly, in a moment of insight—the food rolls around in
the rat’s mouth for 0.5-1.5 seconds, and then the decision is made. This process clearly involves and
requires cortex, but it is just as clear that cortex doesn’t work alone. Here, we will do rigorous tests of
where that information in cortex comes from (specifically examining the roles played by amygdala and
hypothalamus), in the process revealing novel systems-level mechanisms of taste processing. As a whole,
this research project has the potential to completely change the way we think about taste, and to usher in
new thinking about perception in general—thinking that makes a great deal more biological sense, given
the complexity of brain circuitry.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10428669
- **Project number:** 5R01DC007703-17
- **Recipient organization:** BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Donald B Katz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $428,801
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-04-01 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10428669

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10428669, Temporal Coding and Palatability in Gustatory Cortex (5R01DC007703-17). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10428669. Licensed CC0.

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