Effects of cues associated with meal interruption on feeding behavior Ezequiel M. Galarce and Peter C. Holland Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Abstract Food consumption is controlled by both internal and external factors. Environmental signals associated with food may prepare an animal to forage, consume and digest more effectively. Furthermore, environmental cues that provide information about food availability enable animals to make predictions about future food resources and act upon that knowledge in appropriate fashion. For example, when exposed to a cue that signals the presence of food, animals can eat beyond their present needs to cope with predicted future famine. Interestingly, cues previously paired with meal interruption have a similar effect. In two experiments, food-deprived rats learned to associate one conditioned stimulus (CS+) with delivery of a food unconditioned stimulus (US), and another stimulus (IS) with an unexpected termination of CS-US trials. Subsequently, both CS+ and IS enhanced consumption of the US food by sated rats. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that IS's ability to potentiate feeding of sated rats in test depended more on its accompanying CS+ termination in training than on its signaling reductions in US frequency. These experiments may provide a novel animal model of binge-like behaviors in sated rats induced by external cues paired with meal interruption. Keywords appetite; conditioning; cue-potentiated feeding; scarcity; bingeing Introduction Binge-eating is characterized by discrete episodes of eating large amounts of food at a faster pace than usual. These events are not only a problem per se, but most importantly they also constitute a serious risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes (Herpertz et al., 2000; Herpertz et al., 1998; Mannucci et al., 1997). Risk factors for bingeing include restrictive eating-habits and a complex array of psychosocial variables that are yet to be clearly delineated (Laessle et al., 1996; Stice et al., 2000; Womble et al., 2001). Less is known about the specific environmental triggers for these episodes. There is considerable evidence that cues for food can provoke substantial eating even in sated laboratory animals. For example, after food- deprived rats have learned to associate a cue with food presentation, later presentation of that cue when those animals are sated will increase their food consumption in short time intervals. (Galarce, Crombag & Holland, 2007; Holland & Gallagher, 2003; Weingarten, 1983; Zamble, Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ezequiel M. Galarce, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North, Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. E-mail: E-mail: galarce@jhu.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author Manuscript Appetite. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 June 1. Published in final edited form as: Appetite. 2009 June ; 52(3): 693–702. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2009.03.009. NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript