The basic tastants in aversion conditioning: Evidence for sensory preconditioning and not potentiation

Abstract

In Experiment 1, a potentiation paradigm was used to test the relative influence of odor and taste with two 2 basic testants (i.e., salt and sweet) in conditioned aversion learning. Experiment 1 showed that aversions to testants (salt or sweet presented in a manner by which it could be tasted) were established only in subjects trained with the tastant, not the odor (i.e., salt or sweet presented in a manner by which it could not be tasted). Experiment 2 demonstrated, with a sensory preconditioning procedure, that the expression of an aversion to testants was dependent on previous tastant experience prior to odor aversion training. These results suggest that while subjects can smell salt and sweet solutions, these odors are neither sufficient nor necessary for the expression of a conditioned tastant aversion. Copyright 2006 Psychonomic Society, Inc.