Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Carbohydrate-conditioned odor preferences in rats

F Lucas1, A Sclafani

  • 1Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of CUNY 11210, USA.

Behavioral Neuroscience
|June 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary

Rats can learn to prefer odors associated with nutrients. Adding tastes enhanced this learning, but nutrient-conditioned odor preferences were also possible without taste cues.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Resistance Exercise Program in Cognitively Normal Older Adults: CERT-Based Exercise Protocol of the AGUEDA Randomized Controlled Trial.

The journal of nutrition, health & aging·2023
Same author

Factors influencing complications after 3-columns spinal osteotomies for fixed sagittal imbalance from multiple etiologies: a multicentric cohort study about 286 cases in 273 patients.

European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society·2022
Same author

Corrigendum to: Residual glucose taste in T1R3 knockout but not TRPM5 knockout mice.

Physiology & behavior·2020
Same author

Presentations and outcomes of interstitial lung disease and the anti-Ro52 autoantibody.

Respiratory research·2019
Same author

Cervical pedicular agenesis: Case report and a review of the literature.

Neuro-Chirurgie·2017
Same author

Ruptured intracranial aneurysm in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta: 2 familial cases and a systematic review of the literature.

Neuro-Chirurgie·2017

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Animal Behavior
  • Sensory Science

Background:

  • Flavor preferences are crucial for survival and are influenced by learned associations.
  • Nutrient intake often involves complex sensory cues, including odors and tastes.
  • Understanding how animals learn to associate specific sensory cues with nutritional value is key to understanding feeding behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if odor cues alone can support nutrient-conditioned flavor preferences in rats.
  • To determine the role of taste in potentiating odor-nutrient associations.
  • To explore the generalizability of nutrient-conditioned odor preferences.

Main Methods:

  • Rats were exposed to specific odors paired with intragastric (IG) infusions of a nutrient (Polycose) or water.
  • Experiments involved varying the presence of taste cues during odor-nutrient pairings.
  • Odor preferences were assessed by measuring consumption or aversion tests.

Main Results:

  • Rats did not develop preferences for odors paired with nutrients when only water was consumed.
  • Rats could distinguish odors, as evidenced by aversion learning when odors were paired with illness-inducing lithium chloride.
  • Combining odors with distinct tastes (bitter or sour) significantly enhanced odor-nutrient conditioning.
  • Nutrient-conditioned odor preferences were successfully established even in the absence of taste cues during training.

Conclusions:

  • Odor cues alone can support the acquisition of nutrient-conditioned preferences in rats.
  • Taste cues can potentiate the learning of odor-nutrient associations.
  • These findings highlight the brain's capacity to form robust associations between olfactory stimuli and nutritional outcomes.

Related Experiment Videos