REDUCED GENERALIZATION FOLLOWING PREEXPOSURE - LATENT INHIBITION OF COMMON ELEMENTS OR A DIFFERENCE IN FAMILIARITY

Rats injected with lithium chloride after drinking a saline-lemon solu tion also reduced their consumption of saline-lemon and sucrose-lemon, but a single prior exposure to sucrose-lemon decreased the generalize d aversion. Experiment 1 showed that this decrease in the aversion to sucrose-lemon could not be explained by a decrease either in the avers ion conditioned to saline-lemon or in neophobia to sucrose-lemon. Expe riment 2 ruled out the possibility that generalization between saline- lemon and sucrose-lemon was based on shared novelty. Experiment 3 show ed that generalization between the two solutions was related to the st rength of the aversion to the lemon flavor they shared in common and t hat prior exposure to sucrose-lemon reduced generalization by causing latent inhibition of this common element.