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Brain-Stem Control of Ingestive Behavior

  • Chapter
The Physiological Mechanisms of Motivation

Abstract

Hunger is a psychological construct, usually operationally defined as being directly proportional to hours of food deprivation (Silverstone, 1976), but assumed to be a neurophysiological reality. As with most psychological constructs, however, the neural substrates representing hunger have yielded slowly to neurophysiological analysis. This resistance to reductionistic assaults stems from oversimplifying the problem in the first place, and then trying to locate the oversimplification within the brain. Although neither oversimplification has been eliminated, both are now recognized, and this recognition has diverted scientific energy from the frontal assault on the hypothalamus initiated in Ranson’s laboratory and led by John Brobeck and his colleagues almost 40 years ago (Brobeck, Tepperman, & Long, 1943; Anand & Brobeck, 1951; Hetherington & Ranson, 1940) into subsidiary investigations aimed at deciphering hunger variables and integrating psychological concepts into neurophysiological analysis.

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Authors
  1. Ralph Norgren
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  2. Harvey Grill
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, 10021, New York, New York, USA

    Donald W. Pfaff (Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior) (Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior)

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Norgren, R., Grill, H. (1982). Brain-Stem Control of Ingestive Behavior. In: Pfaff, D.W. (eds) The Physiological Mechanisms of Motivation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5692-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5692-2_4

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