Previous flavou r aversio n stu d ies th at in v e stig a te d the e f f e c t o f in te r p o la tin g a d is tr a c to r flavou r in the in te r v a l sep aratin g preexposure and con d ition in g p resen ta tio n s o f a ta rg et fla v o u r obtained mixed r e s u lt s . B est, Gemberling, and Johnson (1979) reported d isru p tion of la te n t in h ib itio n when the ta rg et flavou r was a nominal 3% vinegar so lu tio n and the d is tr a c to r was a nominal 3% v a n illa so lu tio n . In c o n tra st, Westbrook e t a l (1982), although obtaining r e lia b le la te n t in h ib itio n to a preexposed s a lin e or sucrose ta rg et s o lu tio n , were unable to d isru p t th is e f f e c t by p resen tatio n o f a su crose or s a lin e (r e sp e c tiv e ly ) d is tr a c to r .
In attem pting to r e c o n c ile th e ir own r e s u lts w ith those o f B est ^ ^ (1 9 7 9 ), Westbrook e% ^ sp ecu lated th at the sh ort (2-m in) flav ou r preexposure duration in th e ir study (B est a t _al (1979) employed a 5-min flavou r preexposure duration) may have been o f in s u ffic ie n t length to promote an a sso c ia tio n between the ta rg et flavour and accompanying con textu al cu es. The opportunity for the d istr a c to r to d isru p t r e tr iev a l-g e n e ra ted priming of the ta rg et flayour in STM might not th erefo re have e x iste d . S im ila r ly , the short 2-min preexposure to the ta rg et flavour and the d istr a c to r
may not have been o f s u f f ic ie n t duration to overload the lim ite d p rocessin g ca p a city of STM thus exp lain in g why se lf-g e n e r a te d priming o f the ta rg et flavou r in STM was not d isru p ted by the d is tr a c to r . I t was hoped th a t the 5-min p resen ta tio n o f d is tr a c to r and ta rg et flavou r during the preexposure phase of Expts. 10a and 10b would be s u f f ic ie n t ly long to y ie ld evidence of a d is tr a c to r e f f e c t . The 5-min duration o f fla vou r exposure was chosen to permit comparison o f the r e s u lt s o f Expts. 10a and 10b w ith those o f preceding experim ents in which the same novel so lu tio n s were used in a neophobia d esign and a lso with those of B est
± t ^ (1979).
In Expts. 10a and 10b, one group of r a t s . Group NP, receiv ed a ta r g e t s o lu tio n (su crose in Expt. 10a; lemon in Expt. 10b) paired w ith L iC l. Two other groups. Group P and Group PD, were given a b r ie f preexposure to the ta rg et so lu tio n 6 hours p rior to i t s p airin g w ith L iC l. One group, Group PD, received a b r ie f p resen tation o f a d istr a c to r flavou r (c o ffe e s o lu tio n in both Expt. 10a and 10b) im m ediately a fte r preexposure to the ta rg et s o lu tio n . A fter allow ing recovery from the i l l - e f f e c t s o f the LiC l, the stren gth of aversion con d ition ed to the ta rg et so lu tio n was a ssessed by presen tin g a l l r a ts with the ta rg et so lu tio n a lo n e. One would expect Group P to drink more o f ( i . e . , e x h ib it le s s o f an aversion to) the ta rg et s o lu tio n than Group NP, i . e . , a la te n t in h ib itio n e f f e c t . More in te r e s tin g ly , giv en the r e s u lts o f the preceding
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