Anticipatory contrast: Within-subjects analysis

Abstract

Contrast in consummatory behavior occurs readily when a less preferred substance follows a preferred substance. A previous experiment indicated that contrast in consummatory behavior may also develop when a less preferred substance precedes a preferred substance in brief daily exposures. In the present experiment, the same animals sometimes received 0.15% saccharin followed, 15 sec later, by 32% sucrose (.15–32) and sometimes received 0.15% saccharin followed by the same 0.15% saccharin solution (.15-.15). One solution pair was given each day, and the two conditions, .15–32 and .15-.15, occurred in alternation across days. The two different solution conditions were correlated with different cues. Saccharin intake from the first tube was lower when the second tube contained 32% sucrose than when it contained .15% saccharin, both in original discrimination training and following a reversal of the cue-solution pairings. These results support the conclusion that contrast in this situation is based on the anticipation of the impending 32% sucrose each day, rather than on a retrograde comparison with the 32% sucrose received the previous day. These data are considered in terms of Pavlovian conditioning outcomes when the CS is a stimulus with hedonic value.