The Environmental Control of Ingestion: The Roles of Associations and Signals

当一种特殊风味的食物或饮料被食用后， 胃肠道不适，类似风味的食物是 后来避免了。 这种现象通常被称为 味觉厌恶学习 味觉厌恶学习发生在 各种物种，包括人类，非人灵长类动物，啮齿动物， 还有鸟类 这样的学问以其力量而著称。 为 例如，一种口味与疾病的配对往往就足够了。 以调节对味道的持久厌恶， 厌恶通常是有条件的， 相隔几分钟甚至几小时 贝斯特博士的实验研究了味觉厌恶学习是如何 与其发生的环境背景有关。 他 例如，发现老鼠不会喝熟悉的液体-- 他们在其他环境中很容易消耗的液体--在一个 味觉厌恶条件反射发生的环境。 这表明环境和独特的风味 与疾病有关。 此外，贝斯特博士还发现， 环境背景可以提供信息， 一个独特的味道应该避免没有上下文本身 与疾病有关。 也就是说， 环境与疾病相关，但也在另一个环境中消费 “安全”的环境将避免只有在“危险” 上下文 此外，在这个过程中， 危险的环境是与疾病相伴的。 这 指出，根据具体情况，环境可以 与摄入的不良后果有关，或 简单地指示应该避免品尝的位置。 贝斯特博士新实验的主要目的是 区分这两种现象的因素。 这两种现象，以及产生它们的过程， 对人类健康有重大影响。 理解 每一个基本条件作用过程的作用 应该能让我们深入了解化疗的副作用 癌症患者的放射治疗。 这些人中的许多人成为 从这样的治疗方案恶心，并随后发展 对治疗发生的环境的厌恶。 贝斯特博士的研究既能阐明 这些环境厌恶，并提供替代品， 减少其发生。

When a disinctively flavored food or drink is followed by gastrointestinal distress, similarly flavored edibles are subsequently avoided. This phenomenon is generally known as taste-aversion learning. Taste-aversion learning occurs in a variety of species, including humans, nonhuman primates, rodents, and birds. Such learning is distinguished by its strength. For example, one pairing of a taste with illness is often sufficient to condition a lasting aversion to the taste, and substantial aversions usually can be conditioned when the taste and illness are separated by minutes or even hours. Dr. Best's experiments investigate how taste-aversion learning is related to the environmental context in which it occurs. He has found, for example, that rats will not drink familiar fluids-- fluids they would readily consume in other contexts--in an environment in which taste-aversion conditioning has occurred. This indicates that environments as well as distinctive flavors become associated with illness. In addition, Dr. Best has found that an environmental context can provide information about where a distinctive taste should be avoided without the context itself being associated with illness. That is, edibles tested in one environment correlated with illness but also consumed in another "safe" environment will be avoided only in the "dangerous" context. Moreover, in this procedure the only taste avoided in the dangerous context is the one paired with illness there. This indicates that, depending on the circumstances, environments can be associated with the aversive consequences of ingestion or simply signal the location in which a taste should be avoided. The primary focus of Dr. Best's new experiments is to determine the factors distinguishing these two phenomena. Both of these phenomena, as well as the processes producing them, have significant implications for human health. Understanding the role of the basic conditioning processes underlying each should provide insight into some side effects of chemo- and radio-therapy in cancer patients. Many of these people become nauseous from such therapy regimens and subsequently develop aversions to the environments in which the treatments took place. Dr. Best's research can both elucidate the processes underlying these environmental aversions and provide alternatives for reducing their occurrence.