Long-delay memory for tastes: An assessment of temporal parameters

The longevity of taste memory was assessed in three different paradigms: operant discrimination, conditioned taste aversion, and Pavlovian occasion-setting. Taste memory exhibited long-lived properties only in the taste aversion procedure, even though taste exposure, relative novelty, trial number and reinforcer salience were comparable among the procedures. Memory for tastes serving a discriminative function does not appear to be long lived, suggesting that taste stimuli in general do not possess unique characteristics that allow them to become associated with other stimuli over long delays.