Grimm, students publish new findings on sugar craving

Western Washington University psychology professor Jeff Grimm's laboratory has had a research article published in the journal "Public Library of Science One."

The article describes an extensive parametric evaluation of environmental manipulations that reduce sucrose seeking and consumption in rats. A particularly novel finding was that one night of enrichment (living in a large house with toys and friends) subsequently nearly blocks sucrose seeking in an separate environment.

Grimm and his colleagues will follow up on these findings to attempt to understand the neurobiology underlying the "anti-craving" effects of enrichment.

Five WWU undergraduate students co-authored the paper: Rachel Weber, Jesse Barnes, Jon Koerber, Kylan Dorsey, & Edwin Glueck.

PLoS One is an open-access journal. The group's manuscript is available online here.