Blocking of conditioned taste avoidance induced by wheel running.
In Experiment 1, compared to non-reinforced presentation of a food stimulus (A-->no US), the association of a food stimulus with wheel running (A-->US) blocked subsequent avoidance of a distinctive flavor (X), when both the food and flavor were followed by wheel running (AX-->US). Experiment 2 replicated and extended the blocking effect, demonstrating that the amount of avoidance of X after AX-->wheel training depended on the correlation between A-alone trials and wheel running-the predictiveness of the A stimulus. The present study is the first to demonstrate associative blocking of conditioned taste avoidance (CTA) induced by wheel running and strongly implicates associative learning as the basis for this kind of avoidance.
Pierce
W David
WD
Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. dpierce@ualberta.ca
Heth
C Donald
CD
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005502:Food; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012420:Running; D013649:Taste