Contexts control negative contrast and restrict the expression of flavor preference conditioning.

Joseph M Austen,David J Sanderson

doi:10.1037/xan0000091

Abstract

Consumption of a high concentration of sucrose can have either a detrimental, negative contrast effect or a facilitatory, preference conditioning effect on subsequent consumption of a low concentration of sucrose, depending on the cues that are present during consumption. The role of context and flavor cues in determining these effects were studied using analysis of the microstructure of licking in mice. Exposure to a high concentration followed by exposure to a low concentration resulted in a transient reduction in mean lick cluster size, which was context dependent (Experiment 1). However, there was no change in the total number of licks or overall consumption. When a flavor that had previously been paired with a high concentration was paired with a low concentration, there was an increase in the total number of licks, and overall consumption, but no change in the mean lick cluster size (Experiment 2). Pairing a high concentration with a flavor in a particular context before pairing the context and flavor compound with a low concentration resulted in abolishing the expression of the flavor preference conditioning effect on the total number of licks and consumption (Experiment 3). These results demonstrate that although context and flavor cues have dissociable effects on licking behavior, their interaction has an antagonistic effect on the behavioral expression of memory.

Highlights

Cues that are present during consumption can come to control behavior and determine how food is consumed and the extent to which it is consumed
Whereas exposure to a high sucrose concentration can have a detrimental effect on subsequent consumption of a low sucrose concentration, pairing a high sucrose concentration with a flavor can lead to greater consumption of that flavor, compared with a control flavor, in the absence of the high sucrose concentration (e.g., Dwyer, 2005; Sclafani, Marambaud, & Ackroff, 2014)
It is possible that the different effects are not dependent on the nature of the cues but on differences in the training procedures employed with flavor preference conditioning and successive negative contrast

Summary

Introduction

Cues that are present during consumption can come to control behavior and determine how food is consumed and the extent to which it is consumed. Both successive negative contrast and flavor preference conditioning are reliably demonstrated phenomena, it is not clear what circumstances allow one effect to occur and not the other. Performance of preference conditioning may be tempered by negative contrast, and vice versa In favor of this latter argument, there is evidence that some failures to find flavor preference conditioning are a result of anticipatory negative contrast effects in which consumption of a solution is reduced if reliably followed by a high concentration of sucrose In favor of this latter argument, there is evidence that some failures to find flavor preference conditioning are a result of anticipatory negative contrast effects in which consumption of a solution is reduced if reliably followed by a high concentration of sucrose (E. Capaldi, Sheffer, & Pulley, 1989; Lucas & Timberlake, 1992)

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