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State-Dependent Modulation of Time-Varying Gustatory Responses

Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

Submitted 3 August 2006; accepted in final form 21 August 2006

Sensory processing is modulated by attention, which is a function of network states. Here we show that changes in such states do more than a simple gating of stimuli: they actually re-arrange cortical coding space to emphasize emotional valences. We delivered taste stimuli to rats before and after a spontaneous state change ("disengagement") that is associated with a reduction in attention and a concurrent emergence of cortical µ rhythms. The percentage of cortical neurons that responded to tastes, and the average response across neurons, remained stable with disengagement, but the particulars of the responses changed drastically. The distinctiveness of sucrose and quinine—which represent the high and low ends of the palatability spectrum—increased, the distinctiveness of the two aversive tastes (quinine and citric acid) decreased, and the distinctiveness of sucrose and NaCl, which were almost identically palatable to start with, did not change. Overall, then, the changes appeared to be palatability-specific. Two additional findings were consistent with this conclusion: rats’ palatability-related behavioral responses to the tastes changed in similar ways with disengagement and disengagement-related neural changes specifically appeared late in the response, when palatability-specific information emerges in cortical responses. These data suggest that neural state changes can change the content of neural codes.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Fontanini, S. E. Grossman, J. A. Figueroa, and D. B. Katz Distinct Subtypes of Basolateral Amygdala Taste Neurons Reflect Palatability and Reward J. Neurosci., February 25, 2009; 29(8): 2486 - 2495. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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				G. Schoenbaum and Y. Takahashi Paying Attention. Focus on "State-Dependent Modulation of Time-Varying Gustatory Responses" J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2006; 96(6): 2844 - 2844. [Full Text] [PDF]