Investigating the Effect of Physiological Need States on Palatability and Motivation Using Microstructural Analysis of Licking

Fabien Naneix, Kate Z. Peters, James E. McCutcheon*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The study of consummatory responses during food intake represents a unique opportunity to investigate the physiological, psychological and neurobiological processes that control ingestive behavior. Recording the occurrence and temporal organization of individual licks across consumption, also called lickometry, yields a rich data set that can be analyzed to dissect consummatory responses into different licking patterns. These patterns, divided into trains of licks separated by pauses, have been used to deconstruct the many influences on consumption, such as palatability evaluation, incentive properties, and post-ingestive processes. In this review, we describe commonly used definitions of licking patterns and how various studies have defined and measured these. We then discuss how licking patterns can be used to investigate the impact of different physiological need states on processes governing ingestive behavior. We also present new data showing how licking patterns are changed in an animal model of protein appetite and how this may guide food choice in different protein-associated hedonic and homeostatic states. Thus, recording lick microstructure can be achieved relatively easily and represents a useful tool to provide insights, beyond the measurement of total intake, into the multiple factors influencing ingestive behavior.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-166
Number of pages12
JournalNeuroscience
Volume447
Early online date1 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Michelle Murphy, Giulia Chiacchierini, and Eelke Snoeren for collecting some of the original data that were re-analyzed in this manuscript and Gonzalo Urcelay for helpful comments on the manuscript. We would also like to acknowledge the help and support from the staff of the Division of Biomedical Services, Preclinical Research Facility, University of Leicester, for technical support and the care of experimental animals.

Data availability: Upon publication, all data analyzed in this paper will be available at the following address: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.9248558.

Funding: This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [grant # BB/M007391/1 to J.E.M.], the European Commission [grant # GA 631404 to J.E.M.], and The Leverhulme Trust [grant # RPG-2017-417 to J.E.M.].

Keywords

  • appetitive
  • consummatory
  • lick microstructure
  • palatability
  • taste
  • DEPRIVED RATS LICKING
  • REWARD EVALUATION
  • D2-LIKE RECEPTORS
  • TASTE
  • NUCLEUS-ACCUMBENS
  • DOPAMINE D1-LIKE
  • FOOD-DEPRIVATION
  • CONDITIONED ENHANCEMENT
  • INGESTIVE BEHAVIOR
  • APPETITE

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