Alternating exposure to two compound flavors creates inhibitory associations between their unique features |
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Authors: | D M Dwyer N J Mackintosh |
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Institution: | 1. Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales 2. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, CB2 3EB, Cambridge, England
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Abstract: | Rats were exposed to two compound solutions, saline-lemon and sucrose-lemon. In Group ALT, trials with one solution alternated
with trials with the other. Group BLK received all trials with one solution before any trials with the other. Previous retardation
tests had implied that only alternating exposure would establish sucrose as an inhibitor of saline. To provide a complementary
summation test for this inhibition, in Experiment 1, all the animals received pairings of peppermint and saline and were tested
for consumption of peppermint-sucrose under sodium depletion. Consumption was increased by sodium depletion only in Group
BLK. In Experiment 2, a retardation test was used to show that presentation of saline-lemon before sucrose-lemon on each exposure
day would establish sucrose as an inhibitor of saline. Neither exposure to sucrose-lemon before saline-lemon nor alternating
exposure to sucrose and saline alone had the same effect. These results provide support for an associative theory of perceptual
learning that suggests that exposure to complex stimuli aids later discrimination partially as a result of establishing inhibitory
associations between their unique elements. |
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Keywords: | |
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