Extinguishing conditioned inhibition in flavour-aversion learning: effects of repeated testing and extinction of the excitatory element.

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Three conditioned inhibition experiments using an A+/AX- design are reported in which lithium-mediated excitatory conditioning occurred to distinctive environmental stimuli and inhibitory conditioning to a vinegar flavour. Increased vinegar preferences were observed (i.e., conditioned inhibition) in each experiment, and these preferences extinguished with repeated testing as well as following extinction of the excitatory element. Vinegar preferences could be reinstated through reconditioning of the extinguished excitatory stimulus. These experiments speak to the status of inhibitory responding as a “slave” process to conditioned excitation.