title: Within-subjects assessment of the within-compound associations resulting from intermixed and blocked preexposure schedules.
abstract: Nonhungry rats received training consisting of intermixed presentations of a compound flavor and an element of that compound (AX, X, AX, X, . . .), and then a separate block of presentations of another compound (BX, BX, BX, . . .). Stimuli A and B were two odor solutions (almond and vanilla), and stimulus X was a highly concentrated solution of sucrose. After training, a state of hunger was induced in the rats, and their consumption levels of A and B alone were tested. We found higher test consumption of B than of A (Exp. 1). We interpreted these differences as indicating that the B-X association had become stronger than the A-X association as a result of the training. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the presence of X during training was necessary for that effect to appear (Exp. 2). These results give support to the recent proposal that within-compound associations are maintained better by blocked than by intermixed preexposure (Rodríguez & Alonso, 2014). We discuss the implications of this difference for explaining the intermixed-blocked perceptual-learning effect.
authors.affiliation: Universidad del País Vasco (UPV-EHU), San Sebastián, Spain, gabriel.rodriguez@ehu.es.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Gumersinda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alonso
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005421:Flavoring Agents; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006815:Hunger; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D055697:Taste Perception
chemical_list: D005421:Flavoring Agents