Pairings of a drug or place conditioned stimulus with lithium chloride produce conditioned sickness, not antisickness.

ABSTRACT

In different experiments, pairings of a drug (pentobarbital or morphine) or place as the conditioned stimulus (CS) with lithium-induced sickness as the unconditioned stimulus (US) were given to rats to produce Pavlovian conditioning. Control rats received unpaired exposures. In the test, each rat was exposed to the CS, injected with lithium, and then offered food. If such pairings produce conditioning of antisickness (i.e., a compensatory response that opposes lithium sickness), then the experimental rats should eat more than the controls. The reverse occurred. Thus, pairings of a drug or place CS with a lithium US resulted in conditioned sickness rather than antisickness.