A learned flavor preference persists despite the extinction of conditioned hedonic reactions to the cue flavors

Abstract

Learned flavor preferences can be strikingly persistent in the face of behavioral extinction. Harris, Shand, Carroll, and Westbrook (2004) suggested that this persistence may be due to flavor preference conditioning's producing a long-lasting change in the hedonic response to the conditioned stimulus (CS+) flavor. In the present study, the CS+ flavor was presented in simultaneous compound with 16% sucrose, whereas the CS- flavor was presented with 2% sucrose. During subsequent two- and one-bottle tests, the CS+ and CS- flavors were presented in 2% sucrose. Hedonic reactions during training and test were assessed using an analysis of the microstructure of licking behavior. Conditioning resulted in greater consumption of the CS+ than of the CS- that did not extinguish over repeated two- and one-bottle tests. The mean lick cluster size was higher for the CS+ than for the CS- only on the first cycle of tests. Since lick cluster size can be used as an index of stimulus palatability, the present results indicate that although the hedonic reaction to the CSs did change, this was not maintained across repeated tests. Thus, changes in the hedonic response to the conditioned flavors cannot explain the resistance to the extinction of learned flavor preferences.