Ontogenesis of learning: IV. Dissociation of memory and perceptual-alerting processes mediating taste neophobia in the rat

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Abstract
The rat's neophobic response to tastes can be conceptualized as depending on two processes: memory processes That store a representation of an experienced taste so that it can be recongnized as familiar on subequent encounters, and perceptual‐alerting processes that respond differentially to novel versus familiar tastes. We investigated the ontogeny of these processes by studying the preweanling rat's behavioral reaction to a 10% sucrose solution. Experiments I and II suggest that the memory processes mature earlier (by 7–8 days of age) that the perceptual‐alerting processes (about 11 days of age). Experiment III suggests that pups do not acquire and aversion to sucrose paired with illness until they are 12‐days‐old, implying a close correspondence between the maturation of processes mediating neophobia and taste aversion learning. These findings are consistent with our previous work (Vopgt & Rudy, 1984), and our view that ontogenetic dissociations in taste‐guided beghavior reflect caudal‐to‐rostral maturation in the ascending gustatory system.

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