Relationships between ingestive microstructure and meal size / John-Paul Baird.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Baird, John-Paul.

Contributor:

Grill, Harvey J., 1948- advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Psychology.

Psychology--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Psychology.

Psychology--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xiv, 242 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

1997.

Summary:

The hypothesis that meal size is regulated (actively defended) was evaluated. The principal experimental strategy involved systematic variation of the volume of fluid the rat acquires with each lick from a spout (lick volume). Experiments 1-3 report that this experimental paradigm did not engender differences in intake or the pattern of licking throughout the meal (lick microstructure) when compared to that for standard bottle tests. Moreover, meal size remained stable across a range of lick volume conditions despite (or by way of) significant variations in lick microstructure and the number of licks (by thousands) in the meal. Experiments 4-8 show that the result of stable meal size across lick volume conditions was replicated when intake-modifying treatments including gastric preloading, food deprivation, the anorectic, d-Fenfluramine, and taste (concentration and quality) were applied within the lick-volume constraint paradigm. Experiments 9 & 10 show further that rats could adopt alternative patterns of meal-taking behavior not observed previously (adjustments to burst count or meal duration) in order to maintain a stable meal size when these parameters were constrained. Given the wide flexibility in behavior observed and the general relevance of the meal-size stability result, it is concluded that meal size is a regulated parameter that cannot be predicted by the microstructural pattern of the meal. Meal-taking may be better described as a goal-oriented process where the rat's behavioral strategy is flexible and varies in service of a defense of meal size.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Psychology) -- University of Pennsylvania, 1997.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 98-14815.

OCLC:

187456323