Two Behavioral Measures of the Squirrel Monkey's (Saimiri Sciureus) Taste for Four Concentrations of Five Sugars

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Abstract
Licking and bar-pressing were recorded as squirrel monkeys responded to human “sweetness” equivalents of 0.03, 0.1, 0.3 and 1.0 sucrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, and maltose. Both measures showed that as concentration of each sugar increased, rates of responding increased accordingly. With reference to sweetness quality changes, the two measures were not equivalent. Mean licking rates appeared to be insensitive to the kind of sugar being tested, thus reflecting neither human sweetness estimations nor amount of electrophysiological activity in the chorda tympani in the squirrel monkey. Rates of bar pressing approximated the general pattern of peripheral neural responding with one discrepancy that remains to be explained.