Control of ingestion by oral habituation in rat pups.
The role of habituation of mouthing activity in the control of ingestion was investigated in 6-, 12-, and 18-day-old rat pups. In pups at all ages, oral habituation to a flavored diet inhibited ingestion of a continuous oral infusion of that same diet. Twelve-day-old pups that had orally habituated to a diet continued to consume less of a continuous oral infusion of that diet both 30 min and 3 hr later, and the duration of suppressed ingestion was shown to be dependent on the rate of stimulus presentation during habituation experience. These data suggest that oral habituation may be a diet-specific influence on both intra- and intermeal patterning.
Swithers-Mulvey
S E
SE
Department of Experimental Psychology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706.
Hall
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WG
D000818:Animals; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D051381:Rats; D011930:Reaction Time; D013391:Sucking Behavior; D013649:Taste