Research library
Papers about aphantasia and mental imagery, with summaries in plain words. The summaries are generated by AI and may contain errors.
Kobayashi and colleagues · PLoS ONE
In a brain recording study of nine adults recalling the taste of foods named on a screen, the brain's taste area became active in seven people, and in five of them a frontal area became active first. When the foods were shown as pictures, the taste area was active in six people but the frontal area in only one. The authors take this as support for the idea that frontal areas start taste imagery by calling up taste memories.
Kobayashi and colleagues · NeuroImage
In a brain scanning study of 25 young adults, tasting fruit juice and imagining tastes both activated part of the insula, the brain's main taste area. Imagined taste activity sat mostly on the left side, while real taste activated both sides. Frontal areas appeared active whether people imagined tastes or pictured foods, so the authors suggest these areas start imagery in any sense. People who rated their taste imagery as weak were left out of the analysis.
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