Retardation and summation tests after extinctionthe role of familiarity and generalization decrement

  1. López Ramírez, Matías 1
  2. Aguado Aguilar, Luis
  3. Cantora, Raúl 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Oviedo
    info

    Universidad de Oviedo

    Oviedo, España

    ROR https://ror.org/006gksa02

Revue:
Psicológica: Revista de metodología y psicología experimental

ISSN: 0211-2159 1576-8597

Année de publication: 2004

Volumen: 25

Número: 1

Pages: 45-65

Type: Article

D'autres publications dans: Psicológica: Revista de metodología y psicología experimental

Résumé

In four conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats as subjects, the effects of extinguished or pre-exposed flavors on retardation and summation tests was compared. Experiment 1 showed that when steps were taken to ensure similar exposure to the target flavor in all conditions, acquisition after pre-exposure and reacquisition after extinction proceeded at a similar rate and was slower than acquisition in a new stimulus control condition. In Experiment 2, reacquisition occurring 2 days after extinction was again slower than acquisition to a new stimulus, but this retardation disappeared when extinction and reacquisition were separated by a 21 days interval. Experiment 3 showed that both an extinguished and a pre-exposed flavor produced a similar summation effect, attenuating the aversion to a previously conditioned flavor. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that this attenuation was also produced by a new flavor. These results suggest, first, that retarded acquisition after extinction of a conditioned taste aversion might be the result of latent inhibition produced by extended experience with the flavor during extinction and, second, that attenuation of aversion to a test excitor on a summation test might not reflect any specific learning process but be simply due to stimulus generalization decrement.