ABSTRACT
A marked increase in food intake, hypothalamic hyperphagia, regularly follows bilateral lesions in the region of the ventromedian nuclei of the hypothalamus. This chapter aims to determine whether the marked increase in food intake produced by this lesion is accompanied by increased performance in a variety of behavioral tasks motivated by hunger. Different tests were used in order to reduce the possibility that the operation affected the particular function employed as a measure of motivation rather than the motivation itself. Because performance on these tests is known to increase with food deprivation, it is assumed that they are behavioral measures of “hunger.” Positive results on these measures would indicate that this lesion increases a general hunger drive, negative ones would suggest that it maintains hunger at a relatively constant low level or that it interferes with the mechanism of stopping eating.
