Research blurb: When we’re born, we rely on milk from our caregivers for sustenance, but when weaning occurs, young mammals experience an explosion of new taste experiences. We found that these early life taste experiences were required for maturation of brain regions that respond to tastes—a phenomenon known as critical period plasticity. Compared to animals with restricted taste experience, those with a variety of taste experience during this developmental window exhibit accelerated postnatal nervous system maturation and an enhanced preference for sweet tastes. Our research focuses on the mechanisms that are activated by early life taste experience to support maturation of the taste sensory system, taste preferences, and feeding behaviors such as licking and homeostatic regulation of hunger and satiety. To do so, we examine cortical inhibitory interneurons, synaptic transmission and plasticity, and microcircuitry in cortical brain regions related to taste and feeding. We use viral and genetic tools paired with patch clamp electrophysiology, animal behavior, neural circuit tracing, and imaging.