Cue-induced reinstatement of food seeking in rats that differ in their propensity to attribute incentive salience to food cues

Cues associated with food availability and consumption can evoke desire for food, sometimes leading to excessive intake. We have found, however, that food cues acquire incentive motivational properties (the ability to attract and to serve as conditional reinforcers) in some individuals (sign-trackers), but not others (goal-trackers). We asked, therefore, whether rats that are attracted (attribute incentive salience) to a food cue are the same individuals in which a food cue reinstates food seeking behavior, and whether this is modulated by hunger. We report that a food cue produced more robust reinstatement in individuals prone to attribute incentive salience to reward cues (sign-trackers), than in those that do not (goal-trackers). Furthermore, hunger significantly facilitated reinstatement in sign-trackers, but not goal-trackers. In conclusion, individual variation in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to food cues may contribute to susceptibly to eating disorders, and therefore, studies on the psychological and neurobiological basis of this variation may provide new insights into such disorders.