Long-delay and selective association in food aversion learning: The role of cue location

Cue location has been an uncontrolled variable in food-aversion studies. While tastes are always attributes of the ingested object, visual, auditory and olfactory cues are often attributes of the food container or are located elsewhere in the conditioning chamber. A review of experimental studies indicates that cues which are attributes of the ingested object are almost invariably associated with both immediate and delayed illness, regardless of the sense modality of the cue and of the animal species involved. Cues which are attributes of the food container or conditioning chamber are associated with immediate but not delayed illness, again regardless of the sense modality and animal subject. Within the limits of present evidence, the same effects of cue location appear to occur when shock is the reinforcer. It is suggested that the association of attribute cues across delays is mediated by the conditioned behaviour, which is directed at the object of which they are attributes and which is biologically related to the subsequent reinforcement.