These studies concern the integration of taste and smell in the production of flavor: where this integration occurs in the brain and whether this locus varies as a function of task requirements. Experimental rats will have asymmetrical brain lesions that will isolate either the amygdala or insular/prefrontal cortex from combined gustatory and olfactory input. The ability to integrate the two sensory modalities will be assessed using a taste-potentiated odor aversion task and an operant conditioning task that requires subjects to discriminate a flavor from its components. Flavors will consist of an aqueous combination of a pure tastant and a pure odorant that, for the human observer, produces a sensation distinctly different from its components.
