Skip to main content
Download PDF

The basic tastants in aversion conditioning: Evidence for sensory preconditioning and not potentiation

Learning & Behavior volume 34, pages 355–360 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

In Experiment 1, a potentiation paradigm was used to test the relative influence of odor and taste with two 2 basic tastants (i.e., salt and sweet) in conditioned aversion learning. Experiment 1 showed that aversions to tastants (salt or sweet presented in a manner by which it could be tasted) were established only in subjects trained with the tastant, not the odor (i.e., salt or sweet presented in a manner by which it could not be tasted). Experiment 2 demonstrated, with a sensory preconditioning procedure, that the expression of an aversion to tastants was dependent on previous tastant experience prior to odor aversion training. These results suggest that while subjects can smell salt and sweet solutions, these odors are neither sufficient nor necessary for the expression of a conditioned tastant aversion.

References

  • Benjamin, R. M. (1960). Effect of removal of olfactory bulbs on taste discrimination in normal and brain operated rats.Physiologist,3, 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brogden, W. J. (1939). Sensory pre-conditioning.Journal of Experimental Psychology,25, 323–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capaldi, E. D., Hunter, M. J., &Privitera, G. J. (2004). Odor of taste stimuli in conditioned “taste” aversion learning.Behavioral Neuroscience, 118, 1400–1408.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Domjan, M. (1976). Determinants of the enhancement of flavored-water intake by prior exposure.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,2, 17–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellins, S. R., Cramer, R. E., &Whitmore, C. (1985). Taste potentiation of auditory aversions in rats (Rattus norvegicus): A case for spatial contiguity.Journal of Comparative Psychology,99, 108–111.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellins, S. R., &von Kluge, S. (1987). Preexposure and extinction effects of lithium chloride induced taste-potentiated aversions for spatially contiguous auditory food cues in rats.Behavioral Neuroscience,101, 164–169.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henkin, R. I. (1962). Effect of adrenal insufficiency and of corticosteroids on smell threshold.Clinical Research,10, 400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, P. C. (1983). Representation-mediated overshadowing and potentiation of conditioned aversions.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,9, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce, J. M. (2002). Evaluation and development of a connectionist theory of configural learning.Animal Learning & Behavior,30, 73–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rescorla, R. A. (1981). Simultaneous associations. In P. Harzem & M. D. Zeiler (Eds.),Predictability, correlation, and contiguity (pp. 47–80). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rescorla, R. A., &Durlach, P. J. (1981). Within-event learning in Pavlovian conditioning. In N. S. Spear & R. Miller (Eds.),Information processing in animals: Memory mechanisms (pp. 81–112). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rescorla, R. A., &Freberg, L. A. (1978). The extinction of within-compound flavor associations.Learning & Motivation,9, 411–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhinehart-Doty, J. A., Schumm, J., Smith, J. C., &Smith, G. P. (1994). A non-taste cue of sucrose in short-term taste tests in rats.Chemical Senses,19, 425–431.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. V., &Theodore, R. M. (1984). Conditioned taste aversion: Generalization to taste mixtures.Physiology & Behavior,32, 983–989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 S. McAllister Street, 85287, Tempe, AZ

    Gregory J. Privitera & Elizabeth D. Capaldi

Authors
  1. Gregory J. Privitera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth D. Capaldi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory J. Privitera.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Privitera, G.J., Capaldi, E.D. The basic tastants in aversion conditioning: Evidence for sensory preconditioning and not potentiation. Learning & Behavior 34, 355–360 (2006). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193199

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193199

Keywords

  • Saccharin
  • Sweet Solution
  • Group Odor
  • Sensory Precondition
  • Odor Aversion