An fNIRS Research on Prefrontal Cortex Activity Response to Pleasant Taste

Abstract

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), as a non-invasive neuroimaging technique, was used to monitor the activation of prefrontal lobe on human brain during sweet taste processing. The primary aim of the present study was to find the region of interest (ROI) which is related to sweetness, and make further understanding of the central organization of taste. Based on event-related design, the experiments were performed with 16 volunteers by sweet taste stimulus. It was confirmed that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved in sweet taste processing and fNIRS provided an alternative way for studying taste-related brain function under more natural conditions. This study might be effective for detecting the accession area in the cortex of sweet taste and helpful for studying on human feeding and taste disease like taste dyspepsia or disorder.