# Temporal Coding and Palatability in Gustatory Cortex

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $51,309

## 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:** 10907967
- **Project number:** 3R01DC007703-18S1
- **Recipient organization:** BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Donald B Katz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $51,309
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2006-04-01 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10907967

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10907967, Temporal Coding and Palatability in Gustatory Cortex (3R01DC007703-18S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10907967. Licensed CC0.

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