Abstract
In five conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats, summation, retardation, and preference tests were used to assess the effects of extinguishing a conditioned saccharin aversion for three or nine trials. In Experiment 1, a summation test showed that saccharin aversion extinguished over nine trials reduced the aversion to a merely conditioned flavor (vinegar), whereas three saccharin extinction trials did not subsequently influence the vinegar aversion. Experiment 2 clarified that result, with unpaired controls equated on flavor exposure prior to testing; the results with those controls suggested that the flavor extinguished for nine trials produced generalization decrement during testing. In Experiment 3, the saccharin aversion reconditioned slowly after nine extinction trials, but not after three. Those results suggested the development of latent inhibition after more than three extinction trials. Preference tests comparing saccharin consumption with a concurrently available fluid (water in Experiment 4, saline in Experiment 5) showed that the preference for saccharin was greater after nine extinction trials than after three. However, saccharin preference after nine extinction trials was not greater, as compared with that for either latent inhibition controls (Experiments 4 and 5) or a control given equated exposures to saccharin and trained to drink saline at a high rate prior to testing (Experiment 5). Concerns about whether conditioned inhibition has been demonstrated in any flavor aversion procedure are discussed. Our findings help explain both successes and failures in demonstrating postextinction conditioned response recovery effects reported in the conditioned taste aversion literature, and they can be explained using a memory interference account.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aguado, L., de Brugada, I., &Hall, G. (2001). Tests for inhibition after extinction of a conditioned stimulus in the flavour aversion procedure.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,54B, 201–217.
Aguado, L., Symonds, M., &Hall, G. (1994). Interval between preexposure and test determines the magnitude of latent inhibition: Implications for an interference account.Animal Learning & Behavior,22, 188–194.
Ayers, J. J. B., Philbin, D., Cassidy, S., Bellino, L., &Redlinger, E. (1992). Some parameters of latent inhibition.Learning & Motivation,23, 269–287.
Bennett, C. H., Tremain, M., &Mackintosh, N. J. (1996). Facilitation and retardation of flavour aversion conditioning following prior exposure to the CS.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,49B, 220–230.
Best, M. R. (1975). Conditioned and latent inhibition in taste-aversion learning: Clarifying the role of learned safety.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,1, 97–113.
Best, M. R., Dunn, D. P., Batson, J. D., Meachum, C. L., &Nash, S.M. (1985). Extinguishing conditioned inhibition in flavour-aversion learning: Effects of repeated testing and extinction of the excitatory element.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,37B, 359–378.
Bevins, R. A., Jensen, H. C., Hinze, T. S., &Besheer, J. (1999). Taste quality and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion in rats.Animal Learning & Behavior,27, 358–366.
Bouton, M. E. (1982). Lack of reinstatement of an extinguished taste aversion.Animal Learning & Behavior,10, 233–241.
Bouton, M. E. (1986). Slow reacquisition following the extinction of conditioned suppression.Learning & Motivation,17, 1–15.
Bouton, M. E. (1993). Context, time, and memory retrieval in the interference paradigms of Pavlovian learning.Psychological Bulletin,114, 80–99.
Brooks, D. C., Palmatier, M. I., Garcia, E. O., &Johnson, J. L. (1999). An extinction cue reduces spontaneous recovery of a conditioned taste aversion.Animal Learning & Behavior,27, 77–88.
Calton, J. L., Mitchell, K. G., &Schachtman, T. R. (1996). Conditioned inhibition produced by extinction of a conditioned stimulus.Learning & Motivation,27, 335–361.
Danguir, J., &Nicolaidis, S. (1977). Lack of reacquisition in learned taste aversions.Animal Learning & Behavior,5, 395–397.
Delamater, A. R., Krause, J. M., Marlin, S., &LoLordo, V. M. (1986). Conditioned inhibition in taste aversion learning: Testing methodology and empirical status.Animal Learning & Behavior,14, 6–14.
Espinet, A., Iraola, J. A., Bennett, C. H., &Mackintosh, N. J. (1995). Inhibitory associations between neutral stimuli in flavoraversion conditioning.Animal Learning & Behavior,23, 361–368.
Garcia, J. (1989). Food for Tolman: Cognition and cathexis in concert. In T. Archer & L. G. Nilsson (Eds.),Aversion, avoidance, and anxiety: Perspectives on aversively motivated behavior (pp. 45–85). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hart, J. A., Bourne, M. J., &Schachtman, T. R. (1995). Slow reacquisition of a conditioned taste aversion.Animal Learning & Behavior,23, 297–303.
Hearst, E., &Franklin, S. R. (1977). Positive and negative relations between a signal and food: Approach-withdrawal behavior to the signal.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,3, 37–52.
Howell, D. C. (1987).Statistical methods for psychology (2nd ed.). Boston: PWS-Kent.
Hull, C. L. (1943).Principles of behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Konorski, J. (1948).Conditioned reflexes and neuron organization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kraemer, P. J., &Spear, N. E. (1992). The effect of nonreinforced stimulus exposure on the strength of a conditioned taste aversion as a function of retention interval: Do latent inhibition and extinction involve a shared process?Animal Learning & Behavior,20, 1–7.
LoLordo, V. M., &Fairless, J. L. (1985). Pavlovian conditioned inhibition: The literature since 1969. In R. R. Miller & N. E. Spear (Eds.),Information processing in animals: Conditioned inhibition (pp. 1–49). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lubow, R. E. (1989).Latent inhibition and conditioned attention theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mackintosh, N. J. (1983).Conditioning and associative learning. New York: Oxford University Press.
McGeoch, J. A., &McDonald, W. T. (1931). Meaningful relation and retroactive inhibition.American Journal of Psychology,43, 579–588.
Miller, R. R., Kasprow, W. J., &Schachtman, T. R. (1986). Retrieval variability: Sources and consequences.American Journal of Psychology,99, 145–218.
Nelson, J. B., &Bouton, M. E. (1997). The effects of a context switch following serial and simultaneous feature-negative discriminations.Learning & Motivation,28, 56–84.
Pavlov, I. P. (1927).Conditioned reflexes (G. V. Anrep, Trans.). London: Oxford University Press.
Pearce, J. M., &Hall, G. (1980). A model for Pavlovian learning: Variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli.Psychological Review,87, 532–552.
Rescorla, R. A. (1969). Pavlovian conditioned inhibition.Psychological Bulletin,72, 77–94.
Rescorla, R. A. (1979). Conditioned inhibition and extinction. In A. Dickinson & R. A. Boakes (Eds.),Mechanisms of learning and motivation: A memorial volume to Jerzy Konorski (pp. 83–110). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rosas, J. M., &Bouton, M. E. (1996). Spontaneous recovery after extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.Animal Learning & Behavior,24, 341–348.
Rosas, J. M., &Bouton, M. E. (1997). Renewal of a conditioned taste aversion upon return to the conditioning context after extinction in another one.Learning & Motivation,28, 216–229.
Savastano, H. I., Cole, R. P., Barnet, R. C., &Miller, R. R. (1999). Reconsidering conditioned inhibition.Learning & Motivation,30, 101–127.
Schachtman, T. R., Brown, A. M., &Miller, R. R. (1985). Reinstatement-induced recovery of a taste-LiCl association following extinction.Animal Learning & Behavior,13, 223–227.
Schachtman, T. R., Gustavson, K. K., Chelonis, J. J., &Bourne, M. J. (1992). Effects of US reinstatement on the potential of an extinguished CS to attenuate manifest learning about another CS.Learning & Motivation,23, 250–268.
Schachtman, T. R., Threlkeld, R., &Meyer, K. (2000). Retention of conditioned inhibition produced by extinction.Learning & Motivation,31, 283–300.
Slamecka, N. J. (1960). Retroactive inhibition of connected discourse as a function of practice level.Journal of Experimental Psychology,59, 104–108.
Spear, N. E. (1978).The processing of memories: Forgetting and retention. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wasserman, E. A., Franklin, S. R., &Hearst, E. (1974). Pavlovian appetitive contingencies and approach vs. withdrawal to conditioned stimuli in pigeons.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,86, 616–627.
Williams, D. A., Overmier, J. B., &LoLordo, V. M. (1992). A reevaluation of Rescorla’s early dictums about Pavlovian conditioned inhibition.Psychological Bulletin,111, 275–290.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by grants from Denison University and California State University, Fresno. We thank Todd Schachtman, Ralph Miller, and several anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.
—Accepted by the previous editorial team of Ralph R. Miller.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brooks, D.C., Bowker, J.L., Anderson, J.E. et al. Impact of brief or extended extinction of a taste aversion on inhibitory associations: Evidence from summation, retardation, and preference tests. Learning & Behavior 31, 69–84 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195971
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195971