Figure 6.

Consummatory bites, nibbles, and sniffs at porthole. A, Topography of behavior toward the laser + cocaine porthole among representative rats from each group (CeA ChR2 rats toward a retractable or fixed port, BLA ChR2, and control inactive virus rats). Each choreograph shows a “typical” response ∼30 min into a session at a porthole during the 8 s after a successful nose poke that earns a cocaine infusion and laser illumination plus accompanying auditory cue. Bites (red squares) and nibbles (green hexagons) predominantly occurred only in CeA ChR2 rats toward their laser + cocaine retractable port, whereas sniffs (purple triangles) were more common toward fixed ports and in other groups. CeA ChR2 rats on average bit (B), nibbled (C), and sniffed (D) at greater numbers during each 8 s bin after successful nose poke of their laser + cocaine retractable porthole (blue bars) compared with both their cocaine alone port (gray bars) or compared with BLA ChR2 and Control inactive virus rats at their laser + cocaine retractable port (blue bars). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05 **p < 0.01.