The conditioning of aversions to familiar and preferred flavours: a new aversion therapy model.
The present study examined the ability of rats to develop aversions to familiar flavours and to flavours that they had previously acquired a preference for. Rats were first conditioned to prefer a CS+ flavour over a CS- flavour by pairing CS+ intake with the consumption of a starch solution (16% Polycose). A second group was exposed to the same training but preference conditioning was prevented by inhibiting starch digestion with the drug acarbose. The rats were next given aversion training; the CS+ flavour was now paired with toxicosis (LiCl injection) while the CS- flavour paired with a control treatment (NaCl injection). The results of two-choice tests revealed that aversion training produced significant avoidance of the CS+ flavours in both the group that had acquired a preference for this flavour as well as in the no-preference group. The value of using conditioned flavour preferences as targets for aversions to model the aversion therapy approach to alcoholism is discussed.
Clarke
J C
JC
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, PO Box 1, Kensington, NSW, 2033, Australia.
Manza
L M
LM
Sclafani
A
A