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The insulo-opercular cortex encodes food-specific content under controlled and naturalistic conditions

2021; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41467-021-23885-4

2041-1723

Yuhao Huang, Bina Kakusa, Austin Y. Feng, Sandra Gattas, Rajat S. Shivacharan, Eric Lee, Jonathon J. Parker, Fiene Marie Kuijper, Daniel A. N. Barbosa, Corey J. Keller, Cara Bohon, A Piradov Mikhail, Casey H. Halpern,

Multisensory perception and integration

The insulo-opercular network functions critically not only in encoding taste, but also in guiding behavior based on anticipated food availability. However, there remains no direct measurement of insulo-opercular activity when humans anticipate taste. Here, we collect direct, intracranial recordings during a food task that elicits anticipatory and consummatory taste responses, and during ad libitum consumption of meals. While cue-specific high-frequency broadband (70-170 Hz) activity predominant in the left posterior insula is selective for taste-neutral cues, sparse cue-specific regions in the anterior insula are selective for palatable cues. Latency analysis reveals this insular activity is preceded by non-discriminatory activity in the frontal operculum. During ad libitum meal consumption, time-locked high-frequency broadband activity at the time of food intake discriminates food types and is associated with cue-specific activity during the task. These findings reveal spatiotemporally-specific activity in the human insulo-opercular cortex that underlies anticipatory evaluation of food across both controlled and naturalistic settings.