Noise-induced eating in rats facilitated by prior tail pinch experience.

In order to integrate the results of procedures that induce excessive nonregulatory eating, it is necessary to develop new procedures that elicit eating in satiated animals. To that end, the present study examined the effects of 90-dB white noise on eating in satiated rats. Twenty-four rats, including sixteen with prior tail pinch-induced eating experience, were presented with mash in baseline and noise conditions. Whereas white noise induced eating in tail pinch-experienced rats, noise did not do so in naive subjects. It was concluded that experience with eating in response to arousal increased the likelihood that an animal would respond to a different kind of arousal by eating.