title: Behavioral analyses of taste function and ingestion in rodent models.
abstract: In 1975, at the start of my junior year in college, I took a course on experimental methods in psychology from Dr. James C. Smith, when he was a Visiting Professor at Penn State University. That experience set me on the professional path of studying the neural bases of taste function and ingestion on which I remain to this day. Along the way, I did my graduate work at Florida State University under the tutelage of Jim, I did my postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania under the supervision of Harvey Grill, and I also worked closely with Ralph Norgren, who was at the Penn State Medical College. This article briefly summarizes some of the lessons I learned from my mentors and highlights a few key research findings arising from my privilege of working with gifted students and postdocs. After close to 40 years of being a student of the gustatory system and ingestive behavior, it is still with the greatest conviction that I believe rigorous analysis of behavior is indispensable to any effort seeking to understand brain function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA. Electronic address: spector@psy.fsu.edu.
authors.forename: Alan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Spector
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D012377:Rodentia; D055697:Taste Perception / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Brief-access taste test; Feeding patterns; Gustometer; Licking microstructure; Taste psychophysics