Thursday, July 8, 2010

Taste Aversion Conditioning

Taste aversion conditioning is a version of classical conditioning where food is purposely prepared with some type of illness and from then on the food is associated with the illness and will be avoided. This is a common occurrence among many people. For example, I used to really like checkers fast food and then I got food poisoning and no longer will I eat checkers. Even when I smell it, it just reminds me of that incident. Another example for me would be tequila, for what should be obvious reasons, I will never drink tequila ever again. According to the textbook on page 422 and 423, there are many undergraduate students who feel the same way.
There is also more information on a typical experiment that is done involving rats and poisoning them if you would like to read more about it. I understand why they are necessary but I am still trying to get past all the horrible animal tests.

Latent inhibition occurs because we are more likely to associate a relatively novel item, such as an usual liquor, with sickness than we would a more familiar item such as beer. After I read about taste aversion conditioning I actively payed attention to how many times it effected myself or someone I knew. My sister has had many instances with limes in her drinks that ended unfavorably and instead of recognizing the real problem, she believes if she removes the lime flavor that she will avoid the sickness to follow. This is just one of many examples, if you ask anyone I am sure they will be able to give you many ways taste aversion conditioning has effected their lives as well.

There are some videos on Youtube showing taste aversive conditioning but nothing I could find was scholarly. If you are interested there is a video "Why I hate bananas"(a girl singing about taste aversion). I doubt anyone will learn from this but it is pretty funny.

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