The appreciation of wine by sommeliers: a functional magnetic resonance study of sensory integration

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.11.045
• Publication Date: 2005-02-08T15:16:12Z
• Authors: Alessandro Castri...; Gisela E. Hagberg; Antonio Cerasa; Giorgia Committeri; Gaspare Galati; Fabiana Patria; Sabrina Pitzalis; Carlo Caltagirone; Richard Frackowiak
• Keywords: sommeliers; Adult; Cerebral Cortex; Male; fmri; gustatory system; insular cortex; sensory integration; wine tasting; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Learning; Brain Mapping; Humans; Adult; Taste; Nerve Net; Male; Wine; fMri; 150; Wine; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; 3. Good health; Settore MED/26 - NEUROLOGIA; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Taste; sensory integration; Humans; Learning; Nerve Net; Human

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.