The early presence of food-oriented appetitive behavior in developing rats.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
The appetitive behavior of 3- to 6-day-old rat pups was studied by testing their ability to direct their ingestive behavior to a restricted food source. We found that, from 3 days of age, pups were able to feed efficiently from such a source. More specifically, pups that were deprived of nutrition but not of maternal care as well as pups that were dehydrated ingested significantly more than nondeprived animals, and did so whether liquid diet was spread over the entire floor surface beneath them or restricted to a fraction of the floor surface. However, pups that had been nutritionally and maternally deprived were not able to direct their feeding. The general locomotor activation of pups in this latter group appeared to interfere with their ability to direct their behavior to the restricted source. These results indicate that from early ages, developing rats possess the appetitive competence to guide their behavior and suggest that previous findings of poorly directed behavior were a confound of the behavioral activation shown by pups tested in a state of maternal deprivation.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Phifer, CB; Denzinger, A; Hall, WG
Published Date
- November 1991
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 24 / 7
Start / End Page
- 453 - 461
PubMed ID
- 1797591
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1098-2302
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0012-1630
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1002/dev.420240702
Language
- eng