Item Details

title

IMPULSIVITY AND LIMITED ACCESS TO PALATABLE FOODS IN RATS

author

Pierce-Messick, Zachary John

abstract

Disordered and maladaptive eating can emerge in humans in a variety of ways, including clinically diagnosable eating disorders. One such eating disorder, binge-eating disorder (BED), is associated with loss of control over eating and the consumption of a tremendous amount of calories in a limited period of time. BED has been successfully modeled in animals by giving rats sporadic, limited access to highly palatable food which results in voracious binge-like eating and maladaptive patterns of daily caloric consumption. However, the exact mechanisms by which these behaviors emerge are not fully understood. It has been shown that rats that demonstrate higher levels of impulsivity are more likely to show binge-like eating behaviors. However, it is unknown whether those conditions that lead to bingeing in rat models may themselves causally impact impulsivity. In three groups of rats given daily, intermittent, or no access to a highly palatable food, I have found no evidence of group changes in impulsivity as measured with a differential reinforcement of low rates of responding schedule. This indicates that limited access to highly palatable food does not directly alter impulsivity.

subject

Binge Eating Disorder

Differnetial reinforcement of low rates of responding

DRL

Impulsivity

Limited Access

Rat

contributor

Pratt, Wayne E (committee chair)

Blumenthal, Terry D (committee member)

Lack, Anna K (committee member)

Masicampo, Melissa L (committee member)

date

2019-05-24T08:35:41Z (accessioned)

2021-05-23T08:30:11Z (available)

2019 (issued)

degree

Psychology (discipline)

embargo

2021-05-23 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/93935 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis