Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Taste aversions are strong dislikes or avoidance responses towards certain foods or flavors due to negative associations formed from previous experiences such as illness or nausea.
Classical conditioning is a learning process where an association between two stimuli is formed. In the case of taste aversions, it involves associating the taste of particular foods with negative experiences like sickness.
The conditioned response refers to an automatic reaction elicited by a previously neutral stimulus due to its association with another stimulus. In taste aversion, the conditioned response would be the feeling of nausea or aversion triggered by the taste of a specific food.
Extinction occurs when a conditioned response diminishes or disappears over time due to the repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus. In terms of taste aversions, extinction may happen if an individual repeatedly consumes the disliked food without experiencing any illness.