Reinstatement of latent inhibition following a reminder treatment in a conditioned taste aversion paradigm

Behav Neural Biol. 1992 Nov;58(3):232-5. doi: 10.1016/0163-1047(92)90524-8.

Abstract

Reminder treatments have been shown to facilitate the retrieval of a variety of conditioned responses. Whether or not similar results would occur with an experimental paradigm which involves primarily memory for a stimulus, i.e., where no particular response is specified, is unclear. Accordingly, using Sprague-Dawley rats, we employed a latent inhibition paradigm with a long (10 days) retention interval between sucrose (CS) preexposure and sucrose-illness pairing (training). The results demonstrated a loss of latent inhibition following the 10-day retention interval suggesting "forgetting" of the CS preexposure. However, placing a single reminder exposure to the CS within the preexposure-to-training interval reinstated the preexposure effect. Controls indicated that in the absence of the initial preexposure the reminder per se did not produce latent inhibition. Thus, a reminder can reinstate a stimulus attribute (flavor representation) and explicit conditioned responses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Association Learning
  • Avoidance Learning*
  • Conditioning, Classical*
  • Cues
  • Drinking
  • Inhibition, Psychological*
  • Male
  • Mental Recall*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Retention, Psychology
  • Taste*