Effects of prior deprivation, current deprivation, and weight loss on the activity of the hungry rat.

Abstract

During a single 24-hr, period without food, following different immediately-prior deprivation conditions, 7 groups of naive rats were tested in activity wheels. The groups were under 0-, 24-, 48-, 72-, or 96-hr, immediately-prior continuous deprivation and some groups also had 10 days of experience with a cyclic 24-hr. feeding schedule just prior to the continuous deprivation. Apart from the effect that these different deprivation conditions had upon S''s loss of body weight, they had no effect upon activity. Activity level was found to be predominantly a function of weight loss, and independent of how weight had been lost.