HEAT-INDUCED CONDITIONING OF TASTE-AVERSION AND AVERSION FAILURE IN RATS - UNCONDITIONED EFFECTS, MEMORIAL PROCESSES, AND THE ATTENUATION OF NEOPHOBIA

Davey and Biederman (1996) reported taste aversion and aversion failur e conditioning using an increase in ambient temperature as the uncondi tional stimulus(US). Rats in a forward pairings group drank highly con centrated saccharin solution shortly before they were placed in a hot environment. Relative drinking suppression was obtained; that is, nomi nal attenuation of neophobia to the strong-tasting solution was greate r in controls than in the forward group. We interpreted the failure of attenuation of neophobia in the forward group as evidence of a mild c onditioned taste aversion but indicated an alternative interpretation couched in terms of memory acquisition or retrieval failure. Richardso n, Riccio, and Steele (1986) reported state-dependent retrieval failur e in an attenuation of neophobia procedure. In the present paper, we f ailed to substantiate the hypothesis that state dependency contributed to our 1996 findings. In a more direct procedural replication substit uting pentobarbital or shock for heat, we again failed to obtain any e ffect consistent with the state dependency interpretation but, to the contrary, obtained an effect with pentobarbital that is explainable on ly in terms of conditioned taste aversion. (C) 1997 Academic Press.