Taste-aversion learning in infant guinea pigs.
Infant guinea pigs were hand-fed a 10% sucrose solution and poisoned after delays of 0 min, 30 min, or 24+ hr. Subjects in the first 2 groups showed significant sucrose aversions when tested more than a month later. No significant difference existed between the 0- and 30-min groups; no deficiency in this type of learning was evident even in neonates. All 3 groups showed a lower sucrose preference if first exposed at ages 0-6 days than at 7-11 days. Evidently exposure to sucrose at the earlier ages was less effective in reducing later neophobia to sucrose; although the youngest animals had no evident deficiency in learning aversions, they may have been deficient in learning "safety".
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development*; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D008094:Lithium / Q000506:poisoning; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders; D013395:Sucrose; D013649:Taste
D013395:Sucrose; D008094:Lithium