Administration of corticosterone after the first downshift trial enhances consummatory successive negative contrast

Abstract

Rats given access to a 32% sucrose solution and then downshifted to a 4% solution exhibit less contact with the sipper tube than unshifted controls always given access to 4% solution. This phenomenon, called consummatory successive negative contrast, was facilitated in Experiment 1 by a post-trial injection of corticosterone (3 mg/kg) administered immediately after the first downshift trial. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this facilitatory effect of post-trial corticosterone does not occur when administered 3 hr after the first downshift trial. These results support the hypothesis that corticosterone strengthens an aversive emotional component elicited by the surprising downshift in reward magnitude during the initial downshift trial.