Behavioural processes
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Behavioural processes · Sep 2013
Consummatory suppression due to incentive downshift is not a consequence of enhanced search behavior.
Rats shifted from 32% to 4% sucrose solution consume less from the 4% solution than rats that experience only the 4% solution. This consummatory suppression, a phenomenon known as consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC), is accompanied by an increase in other behaviors such as rearing, nose-down locomotion, ambulation, sampling new sources and grooming. Despite a large body of studies on the cSNC, it remains to be determined whether reduced consumption is part of the direct response to the reward downshift or a byproduct of the increase in alternative competing behaviors. ⋯ Rats were trained either with 32% or 4% sucrose solution for ten days in restrainers that limited almost all movement. On the next five days, all subjects received the 4% sucrose solution and a robust suppression in drinking in the downshifted animals was observed. These results suggest that consummatory suppression is a direct consequence of incentive downshift and not a byproduct of the increase in competing behaviors.