Preferences and demands of the white rat for food.

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Abstract
A series of expts. are reported which were directed toward learning the nature of food preferences and food demands of the white rat. Some of the outstanding findings are: (1) food preference seems to depend upon organic factors rather than upon the spatial environmental arrangement of the test-foods, (2) brief eating periods may give different results than prolonged eating periods, (3) the ratio of eating to non-eating time is so variable with different degrees of satiation that it is not a useful index of demand for a single food, and (4) the rate of approach to satiation is a better index of demand of a single food than is the absolute rate of eating. A final section includes a discussion of an hypothesis regarding the chemical and biological nature of the mechanisms regulating food demand and relative preference. The criteria of food preferences are discussed in the light of results of animal experiments and an apparatus for continuous and automatic recording of the rate of eating is described.

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