Alternating exposure to two compound flavors creates inhibitory associations between their unique features.

Rats were exposed to two compound solutions, saline-lemon and sucrose-lemon. In Group ALT, trials with one solution alternated with trials with the other. Group BLK received all trials with one solution before any trials with the other. Previous retardation tests had implied that only alternating exposure would establish sucrose as an inhibitor of saline. To provide a complementary summation test for this inhibition, in Experiment 1, all the animals received pairings of peppermint and saline and were tested for consumption of peppermint-sucrose under sodium depletion. Consumption was increased by sodium depletion only in Group BLK. In Experiment 2, a retardation test was used to show that presentation of saline-lemon before sucrose-lemon on each exposure day would establish sucrose as an inhibitor of saline. Neither exposure to sucrose-lemon before saline-lemon nor alternating exposure to sucrose and saline alone had the same effect. These results provide support for an associative theory of perceptual learning that suggests that exposure to complex stimuli aids later discrimination partially as a result of establishing inhibitory associations between their unique elements.