Method for determining the level of food motivation in rats

A new method for the quantitative evaluation of the level of food motivation was developed. This method takes into account not only the information, but also the energy component of operant feeding behavior of different intensity and effectiveness with a simultaneous study of metabolism by means of indirect calorimetry. Our experiments showed that an increase in the number of lever pressing episodes (from 1 to 8) to obtain one food granule during operant feeding behavior is accompanied by a progressive decrease in the level of food motivation. The level of food motivation remains practically unchanged with an increase in the ratio of pressing episodes to 16 and 32 (despite consumption of food).