Analysis of blocking of flavor-preference conditioning based on nutrients and palatable tastes in rats

• Blocking of flavor preference conditioning was analyzed using different reinforcers.
• Sucrose-based flavor preference (nutrient + palatable taste) was successfully blocked.
• Two experiments separately analyzed blocking of flavor–nutrient and flavor–taste learning.
• No blocking was found when using maltodextrin as reinforcer (nutrient learning).
• Blocking of a preference based on fructose (taste learning) was also absent.

In Experiment 1 rats were given training in which a mixture of two flavors was paired with sucrose. This established a substantial preference for each of the flavors; however, when rats were given prior experience with just one of the flavors paired with sucrose, training with the compound produced only a weak preference for the other – an example of the blocking effect, well known in other associative learning paradigms. Both the palatable taste of sucrose and its nutrient properties contribute to its ability to reinforce preference acquisition. The role of these two forms of learning was examined in two further experiments in which the reinforcer used was fructose (which is considered to support preference learning because it is palatable but not through its nutrient properties) or maltodextrin (thought to support preference learning by way of its nutrient properties). In neither case was blocking observed. At the theoretical level, this outcome constitutes a challenge to the attempt to explain flavor-preference learning in terms of the standard principles of associative learning theory. Its implication at the level of application is that the potential of the blocking procedure as a technique for preventing the development of unwanted flavor preferences may be limited.