Spontaneous configuring in conditioned flavor aversion.

A series of experiments investigated spontaneous configuring using the conditioned flavor aversion paradigm with rat subjects. In Experiment 1, extended training of a two-flavor compound stimulus did not produce spontaneous differentiation of conditioned responding to that compound and its elements. In Experiment 2 we found that extended nonreinforced exposure to a compound stimulus generated spontaneous element-compound differentiation when the elements were later conditioned. Rats that received extended preexposure to the compound showed less conditioned responding to the compound than to either of its elements. However, rats that had not received preexposure to the compound showed greater conditioned responding to the compound than to either of its elements (summation). In Experiment 3, nonreinforced preexposure to the compound stimulus prior to minimal reinforced compound training produced spontaneous compound-element differentiation, but extended reinforced compound training eliminated that differentiation. In Experiment 4, extended partial reinforcement training with a compound produced differentiation of the compound from its elements. Implications of these data for the mechanisms responsible for spontaneous configuring and for the summation assumptions common to most learning theories are discussed.