Figure 1

There are multiple configurations of central taste circuits that could account for the perceptual consequences that follow stimulation of specific taste receptors. In hypothetical model A, input from taste receptor cells that express sweet receptors is encoded along a labeled line in the central nervous system (CNS): information about a sweet stimulus is received exclusively by central neurons that respond only to sweets. A central labeled-line "decoder" could then know that a "sweet" stimulus is present when the sweet "line" is active. In model B, input from taste receptor cells that detect sweets is distributed across neurons and represented by a pattern code in the CNS. Here, a sweet stimulus produces a unique pattern of activation across cells. A central pattern decoder could recognize that a sweet stimulus is present through knowledge of this pattern. Under either coding strategy, the stimulation of sweet receptor cells results in the correct recognition of a sweet stimulus.