| Abstract: | Electrophysiological recordings of cross adaptation in the chordatympani nerve of the rat were obtained for all possible pairsof 17 salts, HCl, quinine hydrochloride, and sucrose, at concentrationschosen to produce equal neural responses. The initial transientphase of the summated whole nerve response to a salt could beeliminated or reduced following adaptation of the tongue toother salts. Salts with common cations cross adapted more thanthose with different cations. The effects of cross adaptationwere strikingly similar to those seen in human psychophysicalstudies and, in addition, closely paralleled Erickson's across-fibercorrelations between responses to pairs of salts. The data appearto be compatible with either an across-fiber pattern or a ‘labelled-line’view of taste quality coding. |
