Abstract
The effects of flavor preexposure and retention interval were assessed in 6- and 12-day-old rats. Conditioned aversions to a flavor appeared at both ages. The conditioning of the younger pups was unaffected by conditioned stimulus (CS) preexposure and was not evident after a 10-day retention interval. For the 12-day-old rats, preexposure to either the flavor CS or a different flavor attenuated aversion strength when the rats were tested soon after conditioning. Other 12-day-old rats that were tested 10 days after conditioning also expressed substantial aversions, but with a retention interval of this length, the aversions were equivalent for animals preexposed to the CS and those not preexposed before conditioning. This loss of the CS-preexposure effect over a long interval, which has also been observed in adult rats, identifies the locus of this effect as postacquisition and perhaps at the stage of memory retrieval.
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This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (1 R01 MH35219 to Norman E. Spear, 1 F32 MH09226 to Philipp Kraemer, and 1 F31 MH09469 to Heather Hoffmann).
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Kraemer, P.J., Hoffmann, H. & Spear, N.E. Attenuation of the CS-preexposure effect after a retention interval in preweanling rats. Animal Learning & Behavior 16, 185–190 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209063
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209063