Discriminating the Stimulus Elements During Human Odor-Taste Learning: A Successful Analytic Stance Does Not Eliminate Learning

作者：Stevenson Richard J^*; Mahmut Mehmet K

来源：Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes , 2011, 37(4): 477-482.

DOI：10.1037/a0023430

• odor-taste learning
• configural
• elemental
• olfaction

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 8). 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.

• 出版日期2011-10