Effect of context on the instrumental reinforcer devaluation effect produced by taste-aversion learning.

Four experiments manipulated the context in which taste-aversion conditioning occurred when the reinforcer was devalued after instrumental learning. In all experiments, rats learned to lever press in an operant conditioning chamber and then had an aversion to the food-pellet reinforcer conditioned by pairing it with lithium chloride (LiCl) in either that context or a different context. Lever pressing was then tested in extinction to assess its status as a goal-directed action.