Abstract
How we perceive the world, and the decisions we make, reflects the cumulative influence of our prior experience. These experiences shape neural circuits, which in turn guide how new sensory information is interpreted. This is well encapsulated by the taste system, where a simple sensory event and output is in fact an accumulation of information from many processes. This dissertation investigates how the brain generates taste-guided decisions and what contributes to a taste’s hedonic value. I first introduce the primary taste cortex as the central node for taste-related decision making. I go on to present evidence for perceptual representation of palatability in taste cortex. From there, I examine the broader circuitry that contributes to this computation, including findings from a previously uncharacterized subcortical input to cortical taste processing. I conclude by exploring these results under the lens of a dynamical system.