Retronasal Odors and the Brain: A Shared Neural Code for Flavor

A new study published in Nature Communications demonstrates that retronasal odors alone — without concurrent taste stimulation — can activate flavor-specific neural coding in the human insula, the brain region that integrates sensory, emotional, and cognitive information. This finding shows that aromas can be processed as “flavors” before reaching the frontal cortex, underscoring the central role of retronasal olfaction in how we perceive taste.