REDUCED GENERALIZATION FOLLOWING PREEXPOSURE - LATENT INHIBITION OF COMMON ELEMENTS OR A DIFFERENCE IN FAMILIARITY

Rats injected with lithium chloride after drinking a saline-lemon solution also reduced their consumption of saline-lemon and sucrose-lemon, but a single prior exposure to sucrose-lemon decreased the generalized aversion. Experiment 1 showed that this decrease in the aversion to sucrose-lemon could not be explained by a decrease either in the aversion conditioned to saline-lemon or in neophobia to sucrose-lemon. Experiment 2 ruled out the possibility that generalization between saline-lemon and sucrose-lemon was based on shared novelty. Experiment 3 showed that generalization between the two solutions was related to the strength of the aversion to the lemon flavor they shared in common and that prior exposure to sucrose-lemon reduced generalization by causing latent inhibition of this common element.