Abstract
Two experiments with rat subjects examined whether a saccharin taste could potentiate the conditioning of an aversion to a salty taste when the two stimuli were presented together prior to lithium-induced illness. In Experiment 1, a 0.1% (w/v) saccharin solution potentiated conditioning of a very dilute (0.03%) NaCl solution, but had no demonstrable effect on two stronger NaCl solutions (0.6% and 1.2%). In Experiment 2, the 0.1% saccharin solution again potentiated the 0.03% NaCl target, but weaker and stronger saccharin concentrations (0.033% and 0.3%) did not. The ability of a taste to potentiate a secondtaste is not consistent with theories that assume that potentiation is unique to compounds composed of tastes and other, functionally different, nontaste cues. Potentiation may occur when the target stimulus is weakly conditionable on its own and when the particular combination of target and potentiator facilitates perceptual integration of the compound.
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This research was supported by Grants BNS 83-00803 and BNS 86-07208 from the National Science Foundation.
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Bouton, M.E., Dunlap, C.M. & Swartzentruber, D. Potentiation of taste by another taste during compound aversion learning. Animal Learning & Behavior 15, 433–438 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205053
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205053