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Review
. 2020 Jul;31(7):495-507.
doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2020.04.006. Epub 2020 May 6.

Integrating Hunger with Rival Motivations

Amy K Sutton  1 , Michael J Krashes  2
Affiliations
Review

Integrating Hunger with Rival Motivations

Amy K Sutton et al. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Motivated behaviors have fascinated neuroscientists and ethologists for decades due to their necessity for organism survival. Motivations guide behavioral choice through an intricate synthesis of internal state detection, external stimulus exposure, and learned associations. One critical motivation, hunger, provides an accessible example for understanding purposeful behavior. Neuroscientists commonly focus research efforts on neural circuits underlying individual motivations, sacrificing ethological relevance for tight experimental control. This restrictive focus deprives the field of a more nuanced understanding of the unified nervous system in weighing multiple motivations simultaneously and choosing, moment-to-moment, optimal behaviors for survival. Here, we explore the reciprocal interplay between hunger, encoded via hypothalamic neurons marked by the expression of Agouti-related peptide, and alternative need-based motivational systems.

Keywords: AgRP neurons; behavior; energy status; food consumption; motivational drive; neural circuits.

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