Swimming endows rats with an aversion to a taste solution consumed before swimming. The present study explored whether the experience of swimming before or after the taste-swimming trials interferes with swimming-based taste aversion learning. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a single preexposure to 20 min of swimming was as effective as four or…

In two experiments, thirsty rats consumed a compound of sucrose and a non-preferred flavor. In Experiment 1, a conditioned preference was observed in the experimental group when animals were tested both thirsty and hungry, but not when they were tested just thirsty. Animals in the control group, which experienced the flavor and the sucrose…

When rats had to find new (jackpot) objects for rewards from among previously sampled baited objects, increasing the number of objects in the sample (study) segment of a trial from 3 to 5 and then to 7 (Experiment 1) or from 3 to 6 and 9 (Experiments 2 and 3) or from 6 to 9 and 12 (Experiment 4) did not reduce rats' test segment performance.…

Conditioned taste aversions (CTAs) may be acquired when an animal consumes a novel taste (CS) and then experiences the symptoms of poisoning (US). This aversion may be extinguished by repeated exposure to the CS alone. However, following a latency period in which the CS is not presented, the CTA will spontaneously recover (SR). In the current…

Evidence that outcome associations, position associations, and response patterns each contribute to performance in animal serial learning came from two experiments in which three-trial series of rewarded and not-rewarded trials were examined. Response patterns were disrupted in Experiment 1 by placing animals directly in the goal on selected…

Four experiments were conducted to study the contents of human instrumental conditioning. Experiment 1 found positive transfer between a discriminative stimulus (S[superscript D] and an instrumental response (R) that shared the outcome (O) with the response that was originally trained with the S[superscript D], showing the formation of an…

Rats in a Pavlovian situation were trained under three different reward schedules, at either a 30 s or a 90 s intertrial interval (ITI): Consistent reward (C), 50% irregular reward (I), and single alternation of reward and nonrewarded trials (SA). Activity was recorded to the conditioned stimulus (CS) and in all 10 s bins in each ITI except the…

Rats were given differential exposure to three distinct and novel foods. One of these foods was exposed for 7 days; another for 2 days, and the last was not exposed. Next, half of the rats received six daily sessions in which a compound of the three flavors was followed by opportunities to run in wheels. The other rats received the food compound…