Learning and retention of conditioned aversions by freely feeding chicks.
The present experiments assessed poison-based aversion learning and retention in freely feeding and drinking domestic chicks whose drinking water was colored blue and adulterated with LiCl for a 24-hr period. The amount of LiCl self-administered by 11-day-old chicks and their subsequent avoidance of unadulterated water of the same color was examined. The results of four experiments demonstrated that chicks self-administered large and often lethal doses of the LiCl solution. Chicks subsequently avoided blue water during two-bottle preference tests administered 3 to 7 days but not 14 days after exposure. These data indicate that neophobia alone is insufficient to prevent nondeprived chicks from ingesting large quantities of a toxin during their initial encounter with it. The lack of long-term retention in the present experiments indicates that naturally occurring aversions based on visual and illness cues, while effective in the short term, may not be a major factor in the choices made by freely feeding and drinking chicks over the long term.
Hayne
H
H
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, USA.
Rovee-Collier
C
C
Collier
G
G
Tudor
L
L
Morgan
C A
CA
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D002645:Chickens; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003118:Color Perception; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004326:Drinking; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000633:toxicity; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009042:Motivation; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013649:Taste
D018021:Lithium Chloride