Time for Taste—A Review of the Early Cerebral Processing of Gustatory Perception

• DOI: 10.1007/s12078-011-9106-4
• Publication Date: 2011-12-05T17:19:09Z
• Authors: Kathrin Ohla; Niko A. Busch; Johan N. Lundström
• Keywords: Magnetoencephalography

The first successfully recorded event-related potential (ERP) for taste, one of our basic senses, was published nearly half a century ago. Despite this large time span, surprisingly little is known about the early neural processing of taste perception. Here, we are providing a comprehensive and critical overview of over four decades of research, with a focus on the temporal dimension of cerebral taste processing in healthy humans. For this purpose, we review studies using techniques that permit a high temporal resolution, namely, electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography, ERP, and event-related magnetic fields (ERF). Our current knowledge of taste ERP is interpreted in the context of our understanding of other, nonchemical senses. Gaps in the existing literature are identified and discussed. Finally, we suggest directions for future investigations using gustatory ERP/ERF.