6 - Neurobiology of neophobia and its attenuation

Abstract

Taste recognition memory is an important trait developed through evolution. Identification of potentially harmful foods and the ability to distinguish them from the familiar and appetitive foods is relevant for organisms‘ survival. In this chapter, we have reviewed how gustatory information begins with the transduction of millions of taste buds that send information ultimately to the insular cortex with various relay structures that modulate taste recognition memory. Brain structures including the solitary tract nucleus, parabrachial nucleus, amygdala, thalamus, and the insular cortex are involved in the processes of or taste recognition memory. We discussed how the neophobic response depends on acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine, and how these neurotransmitters are involved in the codification and behavioral reaction to novel tastes. Finally, we described the molecular cascades of activation that induce gene expression and epigenetic modifications that are necessary for taste memory establishment to be recognized in future encounters as familiar and appetitive tastes.