Thomas R. Scott
Professor 
Ph.D., Duke University, 1970
thomas.scott@mvs.udel.edu
Department of Psychology
Phone: Office (302) 831-2351: Lab 831-2436: Fax
(302) 831-3645
Research Interests
Research in our lab focuses on the control of feeding and the sense of
taste. Taste guides food selection. It does so by activating reflexes that
cause animals to accept (licking, swallowing) or reject (gaping, gagging)
a chemical, by stimulating digestive reflexes (e.g. insulin release) and
by stimulating forebrain neurons whose activity means reward.
Conversely, food selection affects taste. The taste system responds
more vigorously to glucose when the animal is hungry than when satiated.
It changes its response to salt when a rat is sodiumdeprived so as
to permit salt to activate reward systems. On the other hand, if sugar
is associated with nausea, taste responses change to remove the normal
reward that sugar would have.
One of our goals is to understand the scope of this reciprocal interaction
between feeding and taste, and the mechanisms underlying it. In both rats
and monkeys, we know which neurons are involved. We want to find out how
specialized they are in their tasks, e.g. is the change in response to
salt in a sodiumdeprived rat carried by a specific subtype of cell,
dedicated to signaling salt, or is it part of the task that ALL taste cells
participate in? We also want to know what it is about feeding that suppresses
the activity of reward neurons. What does the distended stomach, the stimulated
duodenum, or increased glucose in the circulation contribute to our loss
of motivation to continue eating?
In addition, we are exploring the effects of the newly discovered protein
"leptin" on feeding in rats and monkeys. We have established that leptin
inhibits feeding in both animals, and are beginning to record from cells
in the hypothalamus to determine its neural mechanisms.
Recent Publications
-
Scott, T. R. (1992). Taste: The neural basis of body wisdom. World Review
of Nutrition and Dietetics, 66:1156-1165.
-
Plata-Salaman, C. R., & Scott, T. R. (1992). Taste neurons in the cortex
of the alert cynomolgus monkey. Brain Research Bulletin, 28:333-336.
-
Plata-Salaman, C. R., Scott, T. R., & Smith, V. L. (1992). Gustatory
neural coding in the monkey cortex: L-amino acids. Journal of Neurophysiology,
67:1552-1561.
-
Karadi, Z., Oomura, Y., Nishino, H., Scott, T. R., Lenard, L., & Aou,
S. (1992). Responses of lateral hypothalamic glucose-sensitive and glucose-insensitive
neurons to chemical stimuli in behaving rhesus monkeys. Journal of Neurophysiology,
67:389-400.
-
Giza, B. K., Scott, T. R.., & VanderWeele, D. A. (1992). Administration
of satiety factors and gustatory responsiveness in the nucleus tractus
solitarius of the rat. Brain Research Bulletin, 28:637-639.
-
Scott, T. R. (1992). Taste, feeding and pleasure. Progress in Psychobiology
and Physiological Psychology, 15:231-291.
-
Plata-Salaman, C. R., Scott, T. R., & Smith-Swintosky, V. L. (1993).
Gustatory neural coding in the monkey cortex: The quality of sweetness.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 69:482-493.
-
Scott, T. R., Karadi, Z., Oomura, Y., Nishino, H., Plata-Salaman, C. R.,
Lenard, L., & Giza, B. K. (1993). Gustatory neural coding in the amygdala
of the alert macaque monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology, 69:1810-1820.
-
Giza, B. K., Deems, R. O., VanderWeele, D. A., & Scott, T. R., (1993).
Pancreatic glucagon suppresses gustatory responsiveness to glucose. American
Journal of Physiology, 265:1231-1237.
-
Scott, T. R., Plata-Salaman, C. R., & Smith-Swintosky, V. L. (1994).
Gustatory neural coding in the monkey cortex: The quality of saltiness.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 71:1692-1701.
-
Plata-Salaman, C. R., Scott, T. R., & Smith-Swintosky, V. L. (1995).
Gustatory neural coding in the monkey cortex: The quality of acids. Journal
of Neurophysiology, 74:556-564.
-
Scott, T. R., Yan, J., & Rolls, E. T. (1995). Brain mechanisms of satiety
and taste in macaques. Neurobiology, 3:281-293.
-
Giza, B. K., McCaughey, S. A., Zhang, L., & Scott, T. R. (1996). Taste
responses in the nucleus of the solitary tract of saccharin-preferring
and water-preferring rats. Chemical Senses, 21:147-157.
-
Plata-Salaman, C. R., Scott, T. R., & Smith-Swintosky, V. L. (1996).
Gustatory neural coding in the monkey cortex: Mixtures. Journal of Neurophysiology,
75:2369-2379.
-
Yan, J., & Scott, T. R. (1996). The effect of satiety on responses
of gustatory neurons in the amygdala of alert cynomolgus macaques. Brain
Research, 740:193-200.
-
McCaughey, S. A., Giza, B. K., & Scott, T. R. (1997). Activity in the
rat nucleus tractus solitarius after recovery from sodium deprivation.
Physiology and Behavior, in press.
-
McCaughey, S. A., Giza, B. K., Nolan, L. J., & Scott, T. R. (1997).
Extinction of a conditioned taste aversion in rats: II. Neural effects
in the nucleus of the solitary tract. Physiology and Behavior, in
press.
-
Return to:
Psychology Homepage