Does drinking saccharin weaken an association of sweet with calories? Pre-exposure effects in flavor preference learning González, Ana Boakes, Robert Hall, Geoffrey Brugada Sauras, Isabel de Preference learning Flavor-flavor Flavor-nutrient The main aim of this experiment was to examine the claim that exposure to non-nutritive sweeteners weakens the formation of a sweet-calorie association. Three groups of food-deprived rats received training in which they drank an almond-flavored maltodextrin and saccharin solution. A final test phase assessed their preference for almond. The groups differed in preexposure prior to training. One was pre-exposed to saccharin, one to saccharin plus maltodextrin, and the third, control condition, received only water at this stage. When the rats continued under food deprivation for the test phase, the group exposed to the compound (saccharin plus maltodextrin) showed a weaker preference than the other two groups, while those pre-exposed to saccharin showed as strong a preference as the controls. When the test was conducted with the rats no longer food-deprived, only the water group showed a strong preference. These results support the proposal that rats can form both flavor-flavor and flavor-nutrient associations, expression of which will depend on motivational state. They did not find support for the suggestion that prior exposure to a non-nutritive sweetener can enhance subsequent learning about the nutritive properties of a sweet food. 2024-04-08T12:41:12Z 2024-04-08T12:41:12Z 2023-12 journal article González, A, Boakes, R., Hall, G. & de Brugada, I. (2023). Does drinking saccharin weaken an association of sweet with calories? Pre-exposure effects in flavor preference learning., Physiology & Behavior doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114381 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/90509 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114381 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Isabel de Brugada