TY - JOUR
T1 - Discriminating the Stimulus Elements During Human Odor-Taste Learning
T2 - A Successful Analytic Stance Does Not Eliminate Learning
AU - Stevenson, Richard J.
AU - Mahmut, Mehmet K.
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Odor "sweetness" may arise from experiencing odors and tastes together, resulting in a flavor memory that is later reaccessed by the odor. Forming a flavor memory may be impaired if the taste and odor elements are apparent during exposure, suggesting that configural processing may underpin learning. Using a new procedure, participants made actual flavor discriminations for one odor-taste pair (e.g., Taste A vs. Odor X-Taste A) and mock discriminations for another (e.g., Odor Y-Taste B vs. Odor Y-Taste B). Participants, who were successful at detecting the actual flavor discriminations, demonstrated equal amounts of learning for both odor-taste pairings. These results suggest that although a capacity to discriminate flavor into its elements may be necessary to support learning, whether participants experience a configural or elemental flavor representation may not.
AB - Odor "sweetness" may arise from experiencing odors and tastes together, resulting in a flavor memory that is later reaccessed by the odor. Forming a flavor memory may be impaired if the taste and odor elements are apparent during exposure, suggesting that configural processing may underpin learning. Using a new procedure, participants made actual flavor discriminations for one odor-taste pair (e.g., Taste A vs. Odor X-Taste A) and mock discriminations for another (e.g., Odor Y-Taste B vs. Odor Y-Taste B). Participants, who were successful at detecting the actual flavor discriminations, demonstrated equal amounts of learning for both odor-taste pairings. These results suggest that although a capacity to discriminate flavor into its elements may be necessary to support learning, whether participants experience a configural or elemental flavor representation may not.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80055009665&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/a0023430
DO - 10.1037/a0023430
M3 - Article
VL - 37
SP - 477
EP - 482
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes
SN - 0097-7403
IS - 4
ER -