EFFECTS OF FOOD-DEPRIVATION ON LEARNING AND EXPRESSION OF FLAVOR PREFERENCES CONDITIONED BY SACCHARIN OR SUCROSE

In four experiments, food deprivation was varied during conditioning a nd testing of conditioning of flavor preferences by sweeteners. Condit ioned preferences for a flavor associated with a more concentrated sol ution were enhanced by increased deprivation in training whether sucro se or saccharin was used when rats consumed solutions freely during tr aining. When consumption of solutions was controlled and higher depriv ation levels were used, preference for the higher concentration of suc rose was still enhanced by increased deprivation in training, but this did not occur with saccharin. We suggest that deprivation may enhance the reinforcing value of sweetness only when calories increase along with sweetness. We also suggest that deprivation can enhance flavor pr eference learning by increasing consumption and thereby increasing exp osure to the flavored solutions.