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Pavlovian Conditioning of Taste Aversion Using a Motion Sickness Paradigm

From the Institutes of Medical Psychology (S.K., U.S.) and Psychology (A.R., E.K., Th.P.), Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf; Department of Internal Medicine (B.O., R.L.R.), University of Munich, Munich; and Department of General Surgery (P.E.), University of Tübingen, Germany.

Address for reprints requests to: Paul Enck, PhD, Zentrum Medizinische Forschung, Waldhörnle Str. 22, 72072 Tübingen, Germany. Email: paul.enck{at}uni-tuebingen.de

OBJECTIVE: Pavlovian conditioning of taste aversion has rarely been investigated in healthy humans using motion sickness as the unconditioned stimulus (US).

METHODS: Ninety subjects were pretested for susceptibility to illusory motion (vection) in a rotating drum. Thirty-two subjects susceptible to pseudomotion were assigned randomly to two groups and received either water 1 hour before rotation and a novel taste (elderberry juice, conditioned stimulus, [CS]) immediately before rotation in a rotating chair (conditioning group), or the sequence of water and juice was reversed (control group). During the test session 1 week later, all subjects were exposed to water 1 hour before and juice immediately before rotation. The amount of liquids ingested, nausea ratings, rotation tolerance, and blood levels of hormones (ACTH, ADH, PP) were evaluated.

RESULTS: Subjects in the conditioning group developed taste aversion toward the novel taste, but not subjects in the control group. Postrotation nausea rating was affected marginally by conditioning, but rotation tolerance was not changed by conditioning. ACTH and ADH but not PP levels increased with rotation, but were unaffected by conditioning.

CONCLUSIONS: Pavlovian conditioning of behavioral, but not of endocrine, indicators was effective in susceptible subjects using a rotating chair as US and a single CS-US pairing.

Key Words: Pavlovian conditioning • taste aversion • motion sickness • nausea.

Abbreviations: ACTH = adrenocorticotrophic hormone; ADH = antidiuretic hormone; PP = pancreatic polypeptide; CS = conditioned stimulus; US = unconditioned stimulus; CNS = central nervous system; MSH = motion sickness history.

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