Conditioned Taste Aversion

Conditioned Taste Aversion

This task is used primarily to assess the subject’s ability to learn about the consequences of food selection.  It is designed to mirror natural food selection behavior in rodents.

Procedure

In conditioned taste aversion, the subject is fed one flavor of water or pellets for several days.  Then, a novel flavor of food or water is introduced, and paired with a LiCl injection that causes nausea.  The subject is later given a choice between the original and novel flavor.  The level of learned aversion is calculated as the amount of the novel substance consumed over the amount of the original substance.

Conditioned Taste Aversion