Principal Investigator:

Dana M. Small, PhD
Associate Fellow,
John B. Pierce Laboratory

Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Yale University School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Psychology
Yale University

Research Interests

Neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography have made it possible to study brain representation of sensation and cognition in humans. The primary interest of my lab is to use these techniques to uncover brain substrates of taste, smell, flavor and food reward. We are particularly interested in multisensory integration of taste and smell as well as in understanding how sensory processing interacts with behavioral choices such as decisions to eat or stop eating in healthy individuals and in people with eating disorders. We have built a fully automated and fMRI compatible olfactometer and gustometer and are currently using these devices to study taste, smell and food reward in the 3 Tesla Magnet at the Yale MR Imaging Research Center.

Current Projects

We have two ongoing projects at present. The first aims to understand the neural substrates of taste and odor integration in humans using fMRI and psychophysics. In particular, we are focusing upon the roles of experience, attention and mode of olfactory delivery in determining neural responses and perceptual experiences evoked by flavor stimuli. A second project aims to uncover the neural substrates of food reward in healthy human subjects and in subjects with eating disorders.

Representative Publications