title: US-preexposure effects in flavor-preference and flavor-aversion learning with nonnutritive USs.
abstract: In two experiments, rats received exposure to either a saccharin or quinine solution followed by conditioning with a solution of almond as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and either saccharin or quinine as the unconditioned stimulus (US). In Experiment 1, rats received preexposure and conditioning using saccharin as the US; in Experiment 2 quinine was the US. In both cases the magnitude of the conditioning effect (an enhanced preference for the CS in Experiment 1; a reduced preference in Experiment 2) was reduced by preexposure to the US. The results provided confirmation of the occurrence of the US-preexposure effect in the flavor-preference procedure and demonstrate that the effect can be obtained with nonnutritive USs that lack significant post-oral consequences. The implications of these results for theories of the US-preexposure effect are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain. Electronic address: martagil@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio Andrés
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Recio
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: de Brugada
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Symonds
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK; School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; School of Psychology, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D027861:Prunus; D011803:Quinine; D051381:Rats; D012439:Saccharin
chemical_list: D011803:Quinine; D012439:Saccharin
keywords: Blocking; Flavor conditioning; Habituation; US-preexposure effect