Consummatory succesive positive contrast produced by the downshift of an aversive solution in infant rats

Abstract

Subjects trained in successive positive contrast are usually given an appetitive stimulus of relatively low quality during a pre‐shift, followed by exposure to a significantly greater quality of the same stimulus. Enhanced responsiveness to the high‐quality stimulus during the post‐shift phase, compared to a control group that receives the superior reward in both phases, is taken as an index of successive positive contrast. Successive positive contrast reports are rare, probably due to performance limitations inherent to the experimental protocols available. We exposed infant rats (14 days old at the start of training) to .1% or .01% quinine during 4, 10 min, trials (pre‐shift phase). All animals were then given two trials of exposure to .01% quinine (post‐shift phase). During the pre‐shift the level of intake was greater in pups stimulated with the relatively less aversive .01% quinine solution. These animals also exhibited, compared to those stimulated with .1% quinine, lower emission of the aversive response paw treading. During the post‐shift phase, the group that had been exposed to .1% quinine exhibited significantly greater intake of .01% quinine, along with a reduction in the emission of paw treading and an enhancement in paw licking, an ingestive, appetitive response. Altogether, the evidence is suggestive of the emergence of consummatory successive positive contrast during the second week of life of the rat. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of positive contrast using an aversive solution.