Further evidence for the summation of latent inhibition and overshadowing in rats’ conditioned taste aversion

Repeated exposures to a target taste (X) attenuated subsequent development of rats’ conditioned aversion to X (latent inhibition effect). Presentation of another taste (A) after X in conditioning (serial X-A compound conditioning) also attenuated conditioned X aversion compared with conditioning without A (overshadowing). Furthermore, the latent inhibition and overshadowing effects summed to show the least conditioned aversion in the rats given both the target preexposures and the serial X-A compound conditioning treatment. These results question the validity of the comparator hypothesis as an explanation for Pavlovian conditioning of rats’ conditioned taste aversion.