Poison-based taste aversion learning in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi)

• Published in: Journal of comparative & physiological psychology Vol. 92; no. 4; pp. 642 - 650
• Main Author: Robbins, Robert J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01-08-1978; Williams and Wilkins Co
• Subjects: Animal; Animals; Aversive Stimulation; Avoidance Conditioning; Avoidance Learning; Female; Lithium; Male; Mice; Peromyscus; Taste; Taste Perception; Toxicity
• ISSN: 0021-9940
• DOI: 10.1037/h0077493

Used a series of experiments to test the ability of 219 adult
Peromyscus
mice to form learned taste aversions. It was found that (a) the mice acquired a strong aversion after a single flavor/toxicosis pairing, (b) naive mice drinking a LiCl solution apparently began to experience toxic effects within 90 sec after the beginning of consumption, (c) the mice acquired a total aversion after a single flavor/delayed illness pairing when high doses of toxin were employed, and (d) the aversion produced by a single flavor/delayed-illness pairing was specific to the flavor paired with illness and was dependent on the contingency between the flavor and illness. Although these responses are qualitatively similar to those reported for domestic rats, the mice formed considerably weaker aversions than those previously reported for laboratory rats tested with the same weight-specific doses of LiCl. (33 ref)