"Emetic and Electric Shock Alcohol Aversion Therapy: Assessment of Conditioning": Correction to Cannon and Baker.

Reports an error in the original article by Dale S. Cannon and Timothy B. Baker (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1981, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 20-33). There were a number of instances in which an incorrect inequality sign was used in a statistic. The correct statistics are provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1981-11069-001.) 20 male alcoholic volunteers (mean age 42 yrs) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: emetic aversion conditioning, shock aversion conditioning, or a no-treatment control group. All Ss participated in psychophysiological assessment sessions and taste-test sessions before and after conditioning. Dependent measures all indicated that only emetic Ss acquired aversions to alcohol. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrical aversion conditioning with chronic alcoholics.

Previous studies suggest the utility of electrical aversion conditioning, but fail to include adequate controls. Pseudoconditioning (random shock delivery), sham conditioning (no shock), and ward controls (routine hospital treatment) were compared with 2 conditioning groups. Conditioning-only (contingent shock) and booster Ss (additional conditioning sessions after release from hospital) were shocked for drinking and reinforced by shock termination for spitting out the alcohol. Sessions were run in a simulated bar setting. 51 of 73 chronic male alcoholics completed treatment and were available for follow-up. The technique significantly increased time to relapse when compared with control groups, among which no significant differences were found. Results suggest the possible usefulness of booster sessions and the potential long-term effectiveness of the technique for some Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emetic and electric shock alcohol aversion therapy: Six- and twelve-month follow-up.

Reports follow-up data for 20 male alcoholics who received either a multifaceted inpatient alcoholism treatment program alone (controls) or emetic or shock aversion therapy in addition to that program. Results indicate that emetic treatment exerted a modest beneficial effect at the 6-mo mark, but control and emetic Ss did not differ at the 12-mo mark. Both emetic and control Ss compiled more days of abstinence than shock Ss at both follow-up intervals. Analysis of the relationship between inpatient measures of the strength of alcohol aversions and posttreatment drinking revealed an inverse relationship between heart rate response to alcohol and number of days of drinking. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in physiological and verbal responses of child molesters during aversion therapy.

10 19-33 yr old child molesters were each given 20 classical conditioning type aversion therapy sessions and 3 assessment (generalization) test sessions (before, after 10, and after 20 treatment sessions). Shock was the UCS. Larger skin conductance responses were made to child slides than to adult slides in all sessions. Penile circumference responses indicated a small positive shift in sexual preference in the assessment tests when averaged over Ss. Pre- and posttreatment semantic differential and slide-ranking sexual preference measures also showed increases in sexual preferences for adults relative to sexual preferences for children. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Successful treatment of smokers with a broad-spectrum behavioral approach.

Compared a broad-spectrum treatment (aversion, contractual management, booster sessions, group contact, and support) against a control limited to 1 wk of aversive conditioning (satiation). 16 males and 18 females (mean age 31.2 yrs) served as Ss. Results indicate a dramatic treatment effect, with 76% of experimental Ss (as compared to 35% of controls) remaining abstinent at a 6-mo follow-up. These findings suggest that a clinically effective program may have been established. Further research is needed both to isolate the effective components of treatment and to assess the possible application of similar broad-spectrum approaches to large numbers of smokers in clinical settings. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ontogenetic changes in the modulation of taste aversion learning by home environmental cues in rats.

Conducted 3 experiments using 611 Sprague-Dawley rats to define and analyze an age-related phenomenon of conditioned taste aversion. When consumption of sucrose solution was followed by LiCl-induced illness in Ss' home, acquisition of the aversion to sucrose solution was retarded in preweanling (18-day-old) Ss. This effect was not found in adults or in 21-day-old Ss. Place of testing had no effect in the younger 2 age-groups, but in adults manifestation of the acquired aversion was retarded when they were tested in the home. There was no interaction between place of conditioning and testing for any age. The locus of the environmental influence on conditioning in preweanling Ss was found to be the place of tasting rather than place of illness, retention interval, or testing. Also, the effect was found to be invariant under minor variations in familiarization of Ss with the nonhome environment. The principle emerging from these data and others is that the home environment can have a significant influence on learning and conditioning in the immature rat. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disruption of conditioned taste aversion in the rat by stimulation of amygdala: A conditioning effect, not amnesia.

Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 143 male Wistar rats to determine whether the disruption of conditioned taste aversion by amygdaloid brain stimulation (BST) during conditioning could be attributed to the stimulus properties of the BST. In Exp I, Ss receiving BST (a) while drinking saccharin, (b) during the onset of LiCl toxicosis, or (c) in the interval between taste exposure and toxicosis drank significantly more saccharin solution during a 48-hr retest than implanted or unoperated controls receiving similar taste–toxicosis pairings. In contrast, Ss receiving BST during both conditioning and retention trials developed a strong conditioned aversion. Exp II confirmed that BST formed a compound with the taste of the saccharin solution. A small but significant aversion was displayed by groups exposed to BST plus taste during conditioning and to either taste alone or BST alone during the retest. Again, the group presented with BST and taste prior to and following LiCl toxicosis displayed a strong conditioned aversion. Results suggest that disruption of conditioned taste aversion with amygdaloid BST represents a conditioning effect, not amnesia. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioned preferences in the rat with an unnatural need state: Morphine withdrawal.

Placed 30 morphine addicted and 15 nonaddicted female albino rats on a 21-day conditioning regimen which involved the daily alternation of access to either water, sucrose-octa-acetate (SOA), or no liquid for 1 hr. The addicted Ss received injections of morphine after either the SOA sessions or the no-liquid sessions. Nonaddicted Ss were injected with morphine after the SOA sessions. Following the last injection, Ss were given a 2-bottle preference test between SOA and water. Results show that the addicted Ss that received morphine-SOA pairings had an increased preference for SOA, whereas the nonaddicted Ss showed a decrease in SOA preference after the same conditioning treatments. Addicted Ss that received the morphine injections on the no-liquid days showed no change in SOA preference. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The retention and generalization of operant conditioning effects in an interview situation.

In a study of the conditioning of complex verbal habits, each of 30 female Ss had her established verbal habits assessed in 2 sessions by being asked to talk about herself. In subsequent sessions, the Ss in the experimental groups were positively reinforced (by a head nod and an "mm-hm") for either independence or affection statements, whereas control groups Ss were reinforced every 30 sec. regardless of the content of their speech. The results showed that: conditioning occurred, i.e., the experimental Ss increased in their use of the reinforced category; retention also occurred, i.e., the conditioning effects were stable over a 24-hr. period; and generalization did not occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioned aversion to distinct environmental stimuli resulting from gastrointestinal distress.

In Exp I, 40 male Sprague-Dawley-derived rats subjected to apomorphine-induced malaise following a 2-min placement in a black compartment avoided this black compartment significantly more than 10 controls in a choice situation. The degree of aversion, however, was substantially reduced when Ss were provided water (or saccharin) in the black compartment during conditioning and testing. Ss learned to suppress consumption of fluid in the black compartment. In Exp II, 10 Ss were made ill in the black compartment. Later, when drinking saccharin (or saline) preceded placement in the black compartment, Ss learned to suppress consumption of that fluid. The black compartment had become a conditioned reinforcer for taste aversion. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flavor-illness aversions: Gustatory neocortex ablations disrupt taste but not taste-potentiated odor cues.

Two studies evaluated the contribution of the gustatory neocortex (GN) to the potentiation of odor by taste during illness-induced aversions in 130 male Sprague-Dawley rats. In Exp I, Ss lacking GN and controls were given an odor, a taste, or an odor–taste compound cue followed by intragastric gavage of LiCl. Prior to conditioning, neophobia for flavored solutions was absent in Ss with GN lesions. After pairing with LiCl, GN Ss developed normal conditioned odor aversions, whereas conditioned taste aversions were attenuated or totally blocked. Potentiation of odor by taste after compound conditioning was evident in both control and GN Ss. In Exp II, normal Ss were given compound conditioning to induce potentiated odor aversions and then given GN lesions prior to tests with the odor and taste components. Taste aversion retention was totally disrupted by GN ablation; potentiated odor aversions were retained by both groups, although the GN group extinguished faster. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long extension of effective CS-US interval by anesthesia between CS and US.

Conducted 3 experiments in which a total of 179 female Sprague-Dawley rats ingested a novel solution. Ss which were then anesthetized for a CS-UCS interval of approximately 9 hr. and poisoned on recovery from anesthetic showed a clear aversion to the novel solution. The same CS-UCS interval did not support any measureable aversion when Ss were awake in the interval. It is suggested that the CS-UCS interval might be extended indefinitely with this technique. Results are not consistent with a simple decay model and are quite compatible with interference or learned safety models of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioned taste aversions and neophobia in rats with hippocampal lesions.

In Exp I extensive hippocampal lesions retarded, but did not prohibit, the conditioning of a strong taste aversion to physiological saline (the CS) in 16 male Holtzman albino rats when illness (the UCS) was induced by apomorphine injection 15 min following ingestion of the saline. In Exp II hippocampal lesions reduced the aversiveness of novelty in a drinking fluid for 21 thirsty Ss. It is suggested that the mild impairment of taste aversion learning in Ss with hippocampal lesions was not the result of destruction of mnemonic mechanisms that serve to span the long CS-UCS interval but rather that the reduced intensity of the aversion resulted from a lesion-altered neophobic disposition that weakened the saliency of the novel flavor CS. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition and extended retention of a conditioned taste aversion in preweanling rats.

Four experiments employed a taste aversion conditioning procedure appropriate for both neonatal and adult rats to investigate the ontogeny of extended retention. In Exp I, 200 outbred albino rats trained at 1, 10, 20, or 60 days of age were tested for retention of the taste aversion 25 days later. At testing, only those Ss conditioned when 20 or 60 days old demonstrated significant taste aversions. Exps II and III, with 190 Ss, established that Ss 14–25 days old and older were able to retain significant taste aversions following a 25-day retention interval. 80 younger Ss did, however, acquire and retain the aversion for several days and showed a gradual retention loss over progressively longer retention intervals (Exp IV). Findings suggest that preweanling rats demonstrate initial consolidation, storage, and retrieval of conditioned taste aversions. It is only after this initial period that retention deficits become evident. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immunization against the observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys.

Examined the effects of extensive prior exposure to snakes on subsequent observational conditioning of snake fear in 24 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Three groups of Ss were given 1 of 3 kinds of pretreatment: (1) An immunization group spent 6 sessions watching a nonfearful monkey behave nonfearfully with snakes; (2) a latent inhibition group spent 6 sessions by themselves behaving nonfearfully with snakes with total exposure time to snakes equal to that for the immunization group; and (3) a pseudoimmunization group spent 6 sessions of observational conditioning in which they watched fearful monkeys behave fearfully with snakes. When subsequently tested for acquisition of snake fear, the pseudoimmunization and latent inhibition groups showed significant acquisition, but 6 out of 8 Ss in the immunization group did not. Thus, it seems that for a majority of Ss, prior exposure to a nonfearful model behaving nonfearfully with snakes can effectively immunize against the subsequent effects of exposure to fearful models behaving fearfully with snakes. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of learned aversion to LiCl and NaCl by multiple experiences with LiCl.

Examined the effects of multiple experiences with the poison LiCl and the generalized learned aversion to iso-osmotic NaCl solutions in 5 experiments with 28 male Holtzman albino rats. The learned NaCl aversion was stronger after multiple LiCl presentations than after a single experience with LiCl. Furthermore, unlike the relatively weak NaCl aversion produced by a single LiCl experience, Ss that had up to 16 LiCl sessions failed to overcome their learned LiCl aversion when a severe sodium depletion was induced by formalin or adrenalectomy. Results suggest that sodium-specific hunger as well as defense mechanisms against LiCl poisoning may be modified by experience. As a consequence, "anhomeostatic" maladaptive behavior may occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ACTH and ACTH4–20 modification of neophobia and taste aversion responses in the rat.

A series of 6 experiments assessed the effects of ACTH and the ACTH analog ACTH4–20 on drinking in conditioned taste aversion and neophobic situations using a total of 168 male Sprague-Dawley rats as Ss. Both substances delayed the extinction of a conditioned taste aversion established by a single pairing of lithium chloride with milk (Exp I). However, in this situation, the ACTH parent peptide was more potent behaviorally. ACTH supressed milk consumption in Ss with no toxicosis experience (Exp II). This effect was apparently not due to the conditioning of a taste aversion (Exp III) with ACTH serving as a weak aversive UCS. Exogenous ACTH (Exp IV) or ACTH4–20 (Exp V) did not enhance neophobia; however, repeated injections of ACTH suppressed drinking. This ACTH suppression was related to the familiarity/novelty of the substance being consumed. The neophobic response to milk was not accompanied by pituitary-adrenal activation (Exp VI). Both neophobic and conditioned taste aversion situations appear to be useful for assessing peptide effects on consummatory behavior. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

LSD produces place preference and flavor avoidance but does not produce flavor aversion in rats.

The hedonic properties of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were assessed using the place conditioning, taste reactivity, and taste avoidance tests. LSD produced a conditioned place preference, but only at the highest dose tested (0.2 mg/kg). A single preexposure to the conditioning chamber (latent inhibition) prevented the establishment of a place preference. When paired with sucrose, doses of 0.05 to 0.2 mg/kg of LSD produced taste avoidance, but no dose of LSD produced an aversion to the taste as assessed by the taste reactivity test. These results suggest that LSD, like other rewarding drugs, produces taste avoidance by a mechanism other than that produced by emetic drugs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pavlovian conditioning with ethanol and lithium: Effects on heart rate and taste aversion in rats.

20 female albino Simonsen rats received paired injections of either ethanol or saline as the CS and LiCl as the UCS in a Pavlovian differential conditioning paradigm. LiCl evoked a large deceleration in heart rate (80–200 beats/min) as a UCR. As a result of 10 conditioning trials, the substance paired with LiCl elicited a lower average heart rate than that elicited by the unpaired substance. Moreover, Ss that received ethanol–LiCl injections subsequently were more averse to the taste of ethanol than Ss receiving saline–LiCl pairings. However, there were no differences in ethanol's ability to serve as the UCS to induce an aversion to a novel flavor solution (i.e., the Avfail phenomenon was not observed). The overall pattern of results underscores the value of using multiple indexes of learning in drug–drug conditioning paradigms. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual characteristics of the amiloride-suppressed sodium chloride taste response in the rat.

Assessed the contribution of amiloride-sensitive membrane components to the perception of NaCl taste using a conditioned taste aversion procedure with 8 groups of adult rats conditioned to avoid either 0.1M NaCl, 0.5M NaCl, 0.1M NH?Cl, or 1.0M sucrose while their tongues were exposed either to water or to amiloride hydrochloride. Differences in the acquisition of taste aversions between the amiloride- and nonamiloride-treated groups were not apparent when the conditioned stimulus (CS) was 0.5M NaCl, 0.1M NH?Cl, or 1.0M sucrose. Although the magnitude of the 0.5M NaCl aversion was similar between amiloride- and nonamiloride-treated Ss, the perceptual characteristics of the CS differed between groups. Amiloride-treated Ss avoided monochloride salts after conditioning to 0.5M NaCl but not nonsodium salts or nonsalt stimuli. Ss not treated with amiloride only generalized the 0.5M NaCl aversion to sodium salts. The "salty" taste of NaCl is related to the amiloride-sensitive portion of the functional taste response in rats. The portion of the NaCl response insensitive to amiloride has "sour-salty" perceptual characteristics and is not perceived as being salty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)