International Journal of Comparative Psychology

The preferences of organisms faced with changing conditions in food delivery situations have been studied under the rubric of risk-sensitivity. Optimal foraging theory often applies the energy budget model to explain the preferences shown by organisms, but in this paper we suggest a different approach, one based on the study of individual differences. A sample of rats was classified as high and low novelty-seeking. Afterwards, they were maintained at 75% or 90% of their body weight and exposed to a risk-sensitivity procedure. The results show that the novelty-seeking model is associated with different patterns of preference under a risk-sensitivity procedure, but that these patterns do not correlate with the level of food deprivation employed. Furthermore, we found that the spontaneous alternation between options in a choice situation correlates with the organism’s preference during a risk procedure. Considering recent findings in the area of animal and human decision-making, our results are explained in terms of altered behavioral processes.