An illness-induced conditioned aversion in domestic chicks: one-trial learning with a long delay of reinforcement

Differential use of food and water cues in the formation of conditioned aversions by domestic chicks (Gallus gallus).

“…The first experiment revealed that chickens readily form robust red food aversions in one trial. This finding stands in marked contrast with the difficulty Gaston (1977) encountered in obtaining color aversions for green water in domestic chicks. The dissimilarity of the results may reflect the differential ability of chickens to use color cues in water and food.…”

“…While pigeons and hawks are highly visual animals, they apparently prefer to associate taste rather than visual cues with sickness (Brett, Hankins & Garcia, 1976;Irwin, 1976). Even more perplexing is the fact that although chicks have been shown capable of unmediated aversions for colored food over delays up to 8 hours (Martin & Bellingham, 1979), they can form aversions for colored water only when the colored solution is accompanied by a novel taste (Gaston, 1977). It appears that chicks may use visual cues more readily in a feeding context than in a drinking context.…”

Cross-modality transfer effects in conditioning-enhanced neophobia in chicks (Gallus domesticus): Evidence for the separability of novelty from specific stimulus characteristics

“…In summary, the present results for postconditioning neophobia coincide with previous studies of fluid intake that have demonstrated stronger taste aversion than visual aversions in pigeons (Clarke et al, 1979) and chickens (Gaston, 1977;Gillette, Martin, & Bellingham, 1980), although others (e.g., Capretta, 1961;Wilcoxon, Dragoin, & Kral, 1971) have found the opposite results. Our data suggest that, following aversion conditioning, aversive properties may transfer to new stimuli on the basis of novelty, although the stimuli may differ from the CS in class or modality.…”

Brain mechanisms of conditioned taste aversion learning: A review of the literature

“…On the other hand, animals that depend on visual cues for food selection rapidly learn an illness-induced aversion to an unfamiliar food or liquid on the basis of its appearance. Such visual food aversions have been demonstrated with blue jaysl (Brower, 1969), quail (Wilcoxin, Dragoin, & Kral, 1971), guinea pigs (Braveman, 1974), primates (Johnson, Beaton, & Hall, 1975), and domestic chicks (Gaston, 1977). Further• more, predatory animals such as coyotes, wolves, and buteo hawks have been conditioned to avoid attacking and killing,.…”