The insulo-opercular cortex encodes food-specific content under controlled and naturalistic conditions

The insulo-opercular network functions critically not only in encoding taste, but also in guiding behavior based on anticipated food availability. However, there remains no direct measurement of insulo-opercular activity when humans anticipate taste. Here, we collect direct, intracranial recordings during a food task that elicits anticipatory and consummatory taste responses, and during ad libitum consumption of meals. While cue-specific high-frequency broadband (70–170 Hz) activity predominant in the left posterior insula is selective for taste-neutral cues, sparse cue-specific regions in the anterior insula are selective for palatable cues. Latency analysis reveals this insular activity is preceded by non-discriminatory activity in the frontal operculum. During ad libitum meal consumption, time-locked high-frequency broadband activity at the time of food intake discriminates food types and is associated with cue-specific activity during the task. These findings reveal spatiotemporally-specific activity in the human insulo-opercular cortex that underlies anticipatory evaluation of food across both controlled and naturalistic settings.