Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26580015›Full record

ArticleNature2015

Sweet and bitter taste in the brain of awake behaving animals.

Yueqing Peng, Sarah Gillis-Smith, Hao Jin, Dimitri Tränkner, Nicholas J P Ryba, Charles S Zuker

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
118citing papers in PubMed
12.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

118 citing papers in PubMed, 249 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
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  4. Review
  5. In praise of the hyperbola.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2026
    Review
  6. Optogenetic Hedonic Hotspots in the Orbitofrontal Cortex and Insula: Causing Enhancement of Sweetness "Liking".The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Insular cortex predictions regulate glucose homeostasis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
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  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
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58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Yueqing PengHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Sarah Gillis-SmithHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Hao JinHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Dimitri TränknerHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Nicholas J P RybaNational Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Charles S ZukerHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Columbia University · USHoward Hughes Medical Institute · USNational Institutes of Health · US

Funding

Taste And SmellZIADE000561 · NIDCR · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DENTAL & CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH · PI RYBA, NICHOLAS J · 2009 to 2025
$26.2M
Brain Circuits Mediating Motivated BehaviorsR01DA035025 · NIDA · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ZUKER, CHARLES S · 2013 to 2017
$1.8M
Howard Hughes Medical InstituteIntramural NIH HHSNIDA NIH HHS DA035025NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA035025
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Taste is responsible for evaluating the nutritious content of food, guiding essential appetitive behaviours, preventing the ingestion of toxic substances, and helping to ensure the maintenance of a healthy diet. Sweet and bitter are two of the most salient sensory percepts for humans and other animals; sweet taste allows the identification of energy-rich nutrients whereas bitter warns against the intake of potentially noxious chemicals. In mammals, information from taste receptor cells in the tongue is transmitted through multiple neural stations to the primary gustatory cortex in the brain. Recent imaging studies have shown that sweet and bitter are represented in the primary gustatory cortex by neurons organized in a spatial map, with each taste quality encoded by distinct cortical fields. Here we demonstrate that by manipulating the brain fields representing sweet and bitter taste we directly control an animal's internal representation, sensory perception, and behavioural actions. These results substantiate the segregation of taste qualities in the cortex, expose the innate nature of appetitive and aversive taste responses, and illustrate the ability of gustatory cortex to recapitulate complex behaviours in the absence of sensory input.

Indexed as

AnimalsAppetitive BehaviorAvoidance LearningBrain MappingCerebral CortexDiscrimination, PsychologicalMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLOptogeneticsStereotaxic TechniquesTasteTaste PerceptionWakefulness

Identifiers

PMID26580015
PMCPMC4712381
OpenAlexW2180746000

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.