title: Acquired equivalence and distinctiveness of cues using a sensory-preconditioning procedure.
abstract: In Experiment 1 rats were presented with two flavours, A and B, that were accompanied either by a third common flavour, X, or by two different flavours, X and Y, respectively. An aversion was then established to A, and the extent to which this aversion generalized to B was measured. Stimulus generalization was found to be more marked when A and B had both been presented with the same flavour, X, during pre-exposure than when A and B had been presented with X and Y. In Experiment 2 three target flavours, A, B, and C, were initially presented. In one pre-exposure condition presentations of A and B were accompanied by X, and C was presented alone; in a second condition A and B were presented in isolation, and C was accompanied by X. After an aversion had been established to A, half of the animals in each of the pre-exposure conditions were tested with B, and the remainder were tested with C. In both of the pre-exposure conditions the generalized aversion was more substantial to B than to C. An analysis of these results in terms of the mechanisms that have been supposed to underlie sensory preconditioning is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, U.K.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Honey
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D002712:Chlorides / Q000633:toxicity; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus / Q000187:drug effects; D008094:Lithium / Q000633:toxicity; D018021:Lithium Chloride; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002712:Chlorides; D008094:Lithium; D018021:Lithium Chloride