Licking microstructure and hedonic changes after flavour preference learning in rats

Riordan, John E and Dwyer, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8069-5508 2019. Licking microstructure and hedonic changes after flavour preference learning in rats. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 72 (12) , pp. 2717-2725. 10.1177/1747021819857052

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Abstract

Pairing a neutral flavour conditioned stimulus (CS) with a nutrient reward will create a learned preference for that CS. Prior studies suggest that this is accompanied by an increase in the hedonic value of the CS, although the reliability of this effect is yet to be fully established. Here, flavour CS+s were mixed with either 16% sucrose or maltodextrin (with control CS-s mixed with 2% solutions of the same carbohydrate). While a reliable preference for the CS+ was seen in every case, and there was a learned increase in lick cluster size when all conditions were considered together, this difference was significant in only one experimental condition considered alone. A meta-analysis of these results and similar published licking microstructure analysis studies found that the Cohen’s dav effect size for changes in licking microstructure after flavour preference learning was 0.16. This is far smaller than the effect sizes reported when assessing learned hedonic changes in flavour preference based on other test or training methods. Although this confirms that flavour preference learning produces hedonic changes in the cue flavours, the analysis of licking microstructure with training based on voluntary consumption of CS and unconditioned stimulus (US) compounds may be an insensitive means of assessing such effects.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	1747-0218
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	29 May 2019
Date of Acceptance:	24 May 2019
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 01:11
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/122950

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