FSU Biology - Directories - Faculty

Biological Science Faculty Member

Dr. Roberto Vincis

  • Office: 211 Biomedical Research Facility
  • Office: (850) 644-7328
  • Area: Neuroscience
  • Lab: Biomedical Research Facility
  • Lab: (850) 644-7386
  • Mail code: 4370
  • E-mail: rvincis@fsu.edu
Dr. Roberto Vincis

Vincis Lab Website


Assistant Professor
PhD., University of Geneva (Switzerland), 2013
Graduate Faculty Status

Our research explores the neural mechanisms that drive decision-making in eating behaviors and dietary choices. The experience of consuming food and beverages is shaped by the initial sensations they evoke, which arise in the mouth through the integration of gustatory, olfactory, and somatosensory signals into a unified percept known as flavor.
How does the brain extract both sensory and rewarding information from the food we consume?
How does it use this information to guide eating decisions?
What specific brain regions and neural connections are involved in this process?

By addressing these questions, we seek to advance our understanding of how the brain regulates food consumption and feeding behaviors, both of which are crucial for understanding eating disorders. Our lab focuses on studying the neural circuits and computational processes of brain regions involved in processing sensory and reward-related information from food and beverages, including the insular (gustatory) and olfactory cortices and other subcortical areas. To pursue these goals, our research centers around three key objectives:

  1. Understanding how cortical (gustatory cortex; GC) and thalamic (gustatory and limbic thalami) areas encode sensory information when animals actively experience taste stimuli.
  2. Investigating the neural computations that integrate thermal and chemosensory food-related stimuli, with a particular focus on how temperature influences taste perception.
  3. Collaborating with Dr. Adam Dewan’s lab to explore the neural coding and processing mechanisms used by olfactory cortical areas.
To achieve these goals, we employ cutting-edge experimental techniques, including behavioral training, anatomical and genetic targeting of specific neural populations, multi-electrode and optical imaging recordings of neural activity in awake animals, and opto- and chemogenetic manipulation of brain function.



Selected Publications:

Nash, A. N., M. Shakeshaft, C. G. Bouaichi, K. K. Odegaard, T. Needham, M. Bauer, R. Bertram, and R. Vincis (2025) Cortical coding of gustatory and thermal signals in active licking mice. Journal of Physiology .

Bouaichi, C. G., K. Odegaard, C. Neese, and R. Vincis (2023) Oral thermal processing in the gustatory cortex of awake mice. Chemical Senses .

Neese, C., C. G. Bouaichi, T. Needham, M. Bauer, R. Bertram, and R. Vincis (2022) Active Licking Shapes Cortical Taste Coding. Journal of Neuroscience .

Samuelsen, C. L., and R. Vincis (2021) Cortical Hub for Flavor Sensation in Rodents. Frontiers in System Neuroscience .

Shakeshaft, M., and R. Vincis (2020) Bad food memories? It is just a matter of time. Journal of Physiology 598(23): 5303-5304.
(Pubmed) 

Bouaichi, C. G., and R. Vincis (2020) Cortical processing of chemosensory and hedonic features of taste in active licking mice. Journal of Neurophysiology .
(Pubmed) 

Vincis, R., K. Chen, L. Czarnecki, J. Chen, and A. Fontanini (2020) Dynamic representation of taste-related decisions in the gustatory insular cortex of mice. Current Biology .

Chen, K., R. Vincis, and A. Fontanini (2019) Disruption of Cortical Dopaminergic Modulation Impairs Preparatory Activity and Delays Licking Initiation. Cerebral Cortex .
(Pubmed) 

Vincis, R., and A. Fontanini (2016) A gustocentric perspective to understanding primary sensory cortices. Current Opinion in Neurobiology .
(Pubmed) 

Vincis, R., and A. Fontanini (2016) Associative learning changes cross-modal representations in the gustatory cortex. eLife .
(Pubmed) 

Vincis *, R., S. Lagier *, D. Van der Ville, I. Rodriguez, and A. Carleton (2015) Sensory-evoked intrinsic imaging signals in the olfactory bulb are independent of neurovascular coupling. Cell Report .
(Pubmed) 

Abraham*, N., R. Vincis*, S. Lagier, I. Rodriguez, and A. Carleton (2014) Long term functional plasticity of sensory inputs mediated by olfactory learning. eLife .
(Pubmed) 

Vincis, R., O. Gschwend , K. Bhaukaurally , J. Beroud , and A. Carleton (2012) Dense representation of natural odorants in the mouse olfactory bulb. Nature Neuroscience .
(Pubmed) 

Vincis, R., and A. Fontanini (2019) Central taste anatomy and physiology.  In  Handbook of Clinical Neurology    
(Pubmed)