ABSTRACT
The acquisition of nutrients is the most basic of biological requirements. Cells in caudolateral OFC demonstrated other properties that relate to human food choices. While strychnine and cadmium possess entirely different molecular structures and poison the consumer by wholly different mechanisms, the taste system, as chemical guardian of the body, has the receptors to be vigilant to both. The chapter argues that the sense of taste is organized to perform a general differentiation of toxins from nutrients, that this is accomplished at a brainstem level and is intact at or before birth in humans. Cells in caudolateral OFC demonstrated other properties that relate to human food choices. Species differences are minimized, as verified by reports demonstrating that taste processing in the macaque cortex is nearly identical to the taste experiences reported by humans in psychophysical studies. Imaging studies using positron emission tomography and functional MRI have been conducted on human subjects to identify areas associated with taste, flavor, and reward.
