Abstract
Two experiments investigated the role of lithium-mediated environmental conditioning on instrumental performance. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a novel taste consumed in one arm of a T maze prior to lithium-induced toxicosis reduced performance in this environment whereas similar aversions conditioned in the home cage failed to alter maze performance. Experiment 2 showed that maze performance in a straight alleyway was decremented during extinction only in a group that actually traversed the alley prior to drinking saccharin and receiving lithium injections. This demonstrated that the instrumental decrement observed in Experiment 1 was due not only to the presence of an unpalatable flavor in the goalbox during the test.
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Best, M.R., Meachum, C.L., Davis, S.F. et al. The Effects of Flavor-Aversion Learning on Instrumental Performance. Psychol Rec 37, 43–54 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395872
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395872