Cortical association areas in the gustatory system

The existence, location and interrelationships of cortical gustatory association areas in primates and rodents are discussed. Based on previous proposals, and on anatomical, physiological and lesion data, we propose that in addition to primary gustatory cortex, located in primate opercular cortex and rodent granular insular cortex, three association areas exist. A secondary area is located in dysgranular insular cortex, a tertiary area in agranular insular cortex, and the terminus of the cortical gustatory analyzer is located in perirhinal cortex. We propose that the subjective awareness of flavor is most probably due to neuronal activities in agranular insular cortex. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.