Circadian food anticipatory activity: entrainment limits and scalar properties re-examined
Abstract
Rats can anticipate a daily feeding time. This has been interpreted as a rhythm controlled by food-entrainable circadian oscillators, because the rhythm persists during several cycles of total food deprivation and fails to track mealtimes if the feeding schedule deviates substantially from 24. These and other properties distinguish anticipation of daily meals from anticipation of food rewards provided at intervals in the seconds-to-minutes range, suggesting distinct mechanisms. It has been reported that rats can anticipate meals at long, but noncircadian, intervals if they are required to work for food, and that anticipation of daily meals, expressed in operant behavior, shows the scalar property, a hallmark of timing intervals in the seconds-to-minutes range. These observations raise the possibility of a universal timing system, rather than unique mechanisms for circadian and noncircadian intervals. To test whether circadian constraints on daily meal timing depend on the measure of behavior, we re-examined formal properties of food anticipation using lever pressing and motion sensors. We observed robust anticipation in both measures to meals at 24-hr intervals but no anticipation of meals at 18-hr intervals in light-dark or constant light and no evidence that the duration of anticipation scales with the interval between lighting transitions and mealtime. We are therefore unable to confirm reports that operant measures can reveal timing at long, but noncircadian, intervals. If timing processes exist that do permit anticipation of events at long, but noncircadian, intervals, the conditions under which these can be revealed are evidently highly constrained.
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Rats are able to anticipate food with 24-hour intervals but not 18-hour intervals.
“Rats are able to anticipate food with 24-, but not 18-hour intervals (Petersen et al., 2014)”
From The medial prefrontal cortex - hippocampus circuit that integrates information of object, place and time to construct episodic memory in rodents: Behavioral, anatomical and neurochemical properties (2020) · cites this paper as Petersen et al., 2014
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Multiple entrained oscillator model of food anticipatory circadian rhythms
Petersen, C. C., Cao, F., Stinchcombe, A. R., et al. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-13242-w · Cited by 23 · see citing works
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“Similar interactions have been observed with FAA in response to scheduled feeding at different phases of an LD cycle (Petersen et al., 2014).”
BackgroundSelf-citationMultiple oscillators underlie circadian food anticipation in mice
Ehichioya, D. E., Masud, I., Taufique, S. K. T., et al. (2025) · Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms · doi:10.1016/j.nbscr.2025.100116 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“More importantly, with FED3, food anticipatory poking can be measured at any time of day, similarly to in earlier studies measuring lever-pressing for dispensing food (Petersen et al., 2014; Petersen et al., 2022).”
Astaf’ev, A. A. (2017) · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flôres, D. E. D. F. L. (2017) · Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo) · doi:10.11606/t.41.2017.tde-03012017-105105
Power, S. D. (2018) · Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Cheng, K., & Crystal, J. D. (2017) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.21013-4
Crystal, J. D. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-29068-8.00188-4
Taufique, S. K. T., Ehichioya, D. E., Farah, S., et al. (2026) · Journal of Biological Rhythms · doi:10.1177/07487304261445542
“Furthermore, with the FED3, food-anticipatory poking can be measured at any time of day, similar to in earlier pioneering studies measuring lever pressing for dispensing food (Boulos et al., 1980; Petersen et al., 2022, 2014).”
Villa, A. P., Trzeciak, J. R., Wolfe, D. A., Ehichioya, D. E., Falkenstein, J., Wong, J. T., Wu, R., Dimalanta, L., Kaiban, W., Dhanoa, J., et al. (2026) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2026.08.061
- Authors
- Petersen, C. C., Patton, D. F., Parfyonov, M., & Mistlberger, R. E.
- Affiliations
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Venue
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2014
- Volume
- 128
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 689-702
- ISSN
- 0735-7044 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0084
- OpenAlex
- W2333858902
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 1.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- food anticipatory activity, circadian rhythm, meal timing, scalar timing, food deprivation, light-dark cycle, constant light, lever pressing, motion sensors, rats
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Animals, Circadian Rhythm, Conditioning, Operant, Feeding Behavior, Food Deprivation, Light, Male, Motivation, Motor Activity, Reinforcement Schedule, Telemetry, Time Factors, Time Perception, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
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