Afferent fibres convey sensory information from the upper gastrointestinal tract to the central nervous system but the nature of this information is different for vagal and spinal pathways. Vagal afferents convey predominantly physiological information while spinal afferents are able to encode noxious events. Because of the different response profiles following activation of these pathways, it is likely that vagal and splanchnic afferents play different roles in mediating sensation.