Effects of Food Deprivation upon Cue Utilization as Measured by Novelty-Incentive

Abstract

A series of three experiments was done to test the hypothesis that high levels of food deprivation would adversely affect cue utilization from a complex stimulus goal as tested by its novelty-incentive value when that goal was later opposed to food for hungry subjects in a T-maze. It was found that the hunger drive level under which the male rats had originally experienced the complex stimulus goal determined its later incentive value, whether the original experience was in a latent learning type I1 situation (Experiment I, 20 subjects), a drive-shift situation (Experiment 11, 40 subjects), or a free exploration situation (Experiment 111, 30 subjects). In each experiment, having first experienced the complex goal under low levels of deprivation significantly decreased the frequency of choices of that goal in a later test relative to the performance of the more deprived animals. The data was interpreted as indicating that utilization of cues, in the sense of input and possibly retention of information, was hindered by the higher levels of deprivation.

Synthesis, protein levels, activity, and phosphorylation state of tyrosine hydroxylase in mesoaccumbens and nigrostriatal dopamine pathways of chronically food-restricted rats

“…Chronically food-restricted (FR) rats are hyperactive in environments that are novel or associated with food availability (Hart and Turturro, 1998;Hoyenga and Hoyenga, 1974;Timberlake and White, 1990) and are more behaviorally sensitive than ad libitum fed (AL) rats to the rewarding and motor-activating effects of abused drugs and direct dopamine (DA) receptor agonists (Carr, 2002;Carroll and Meisch, 1984). On the other hand, FR rats are less active than controls in their home cage and other familiar environments (Duffy et al, 1990;Hart and Turturro, 1998).…”