TY - JOUR
T1 - Appetitive long-term taste conditioning enhances human visually evoked EEG responses
AU - Jespersen, Ida Viemose
AU - Møller, Per
AU - Laugesen, Jakob Lund
AU - Schachtman, Todd R.
AU - Manoharan, Thukirtha
AU - Christoffersen, Gert Rene Juul
PY - 2013/9/15
Y1 - 2013/9/15
N2 - Long-term effects of learned associations between an image and a taste have not been studied with electromagnetic brain scanning techniques. The possibility that taste conditioning may change sensory image processing was investigated in young adult subjects. EEG-responses evoked by images were recorded before and after a training session using an image as conditioned stimulus and a pleasant taste as unconditioned stimulus. The results showed that in posterior electrodes placed over visual cortex areas, the following changes occurred after conditioning: (1) the amplitude and duration of the N2-P3 waves in the visual evoked potentials were enhanced; (2) the N2 and P3 peak delays were shortened; (3) power induced by image presentation was enhanced in the delta and theta frequency bands; (4) cross-hemispheric delta and theta coherences among the posterior electrodes were enhanced; (5) calculations of the underlying whole brain distribution of currents using swLORETA showed elevated current densities in posterior voxels. None of the above changes occurred in a sham-trained control group. In electrodes placed over the prefrontal cortex, delta and theta power also rose significantly. It is suggested that the appetitive taste conditioning potentiated synaptic activity in visual cortex networks and that this led to an increased speed of image processing.
AB - Long-term effects of learned associations between an image and a taste have not been studied with electromagnetic brain scanning techniques. The possibility that taste conditioning may change sensory image processing was investigated in young adult subjects. EEG-responses evoked by images were recorded before and after a training session using an image as conditioned stimulus and a pleasant taste as unconditioned stimulus. The results showed that in posterior electrodes placed over visual cortex areas, the following changes occurred after conditioning: (1) the amplitude and duration of the N2-P3 waves in the visual evoked potentials were enhanced; (2) the N2 and P3 peak delays were shortened; (3) power induced by image presentation was enhanced in the delta and theta frequency bands; (4) cross-hemispheric delta and theta coherences among the posterior electrodes were enhanced; (5) calculations of the underlying whole brain distribution of currents using swLORETA showed elevated current densities in posterior voxels. None of the above changes occurred in a sham-trained control group. In electrodes placed over the prefrontal cortex, delta and theta power also rose significantly. It is suggested that the appetitive taste conditioning potentiated synaptic activity in visual cortex networks and that this led to an increased speed of image processing.
U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.06.033
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.06.033
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 23827203
SN - 0166-4328
VL - 253
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
ER -