Lecture 21 - Conditioned Taste Aversions (CTA)

Question 1

Conditioned taste aversion

Answer 1

Occurs when an animal associates the taste of a certain good with symptoms caused by a toxic, spoiled, or poisonous substance.

Generally, taste aversion is developed after ingestion of food that causes nausea, sickness or vomiting.

Question 2

Garcia effect

Answer 2

(AKA conditioned taste aversion) An aversion or distaste for a particular taste or smell that was associated with a negative reaction (such as nausea or vomiting).

Question 3

Garcia argued that CTA showed stimulus selectivity?

Answer 3

YES

Sickness is easily associated with taste but not with audio/visual events

Question 4

Garcia argued that CTA shows long-delay learning?

Answer 4

YES

Rats will acquire aversion to a taste even when this is followed by nausea many hour later. However this long delay learning requires a strong novel taste followed by intense sickness to learn CTA.

Question 5

Garcia argued that CTA shows one trial learning?

Answer 5

NO

One-trial learning only occurs when taste is novel and strong as pre-x to taste retards later conditioning due to latent inhibition.

Question 6

Garcia argued that CTA was resistant to extinction?

Answer 6

NO

The apparent resistance to extinction results from rat avoiding contact with the averted taste. As when the averted saccharin is the only available drink and found rapid extinction of the conditioned aversion.

Question 7

Garcia argued that CTA showed potentiation of odor aversion learning by tastes?

Answer 7

YES

Potentiation is based in selectivity of CTA; taste switches odour into the gut defense learning system instead of the skin defense system

Question 8

Garcia argued that CTA showed the use of different brain structures?

Answer 8

YES

But so does fear and spatial learning.

Question 9

How much percent of human CTA is connected to over-consumption, physical illness, food poisoning, allergic reaction etc.?

Answer 9

80%