Sensory, digestive and metabolic influences on preference and intake

In the 1960s, scientific work on the mechanisms of appetite began to shift from the effects of deprivation on reinforcement, motivation and sensation (hunger and thirst) to the influences of ingestion itself on what and how much was chosen at a bout of eating and drinking (the sating of appetite). This personal overview starts with John D. Davisʹs involvement in this trend to studying sensory, digestive and metabolic controls of meal volume, as he and the author each joined the field. The main topic is the diverse series of innovative experiments that Davis carried out in the authorʹs research group in 1970–1971. This work exemplified Davisʹs technical inventiveness and theoretical precision. It generated influential findings on behavioural roles of dietary flavours, gastric distension and hepatic metabolism.