Acquisition and extinction of flavour preferences conditioned by caffeine in humans

Previous research has shown that moderate caffeine users develop a liking for the flavour of a novel caffeinated drink only if they experience this drink in a caffeine-deprived state. This study tested how sensitive these conditioned-flavour preferences are to subsequent changes in deprivation state and the continued presence or absence of caffeine. Thirty-six moderate caffeine consumers were given 4 training days during which they evaluated a novel flavoured caffeinated drink consumed mid-morning after 12 h caffeine deprivation. Subjects were then divided into four groups depending on whether or not they remained caffeine-deprived and whether the test drink continued to contain caffeine. They then re-evaluated the novel drink over a further 4 test days. As expected, liking for the test drink increased across the 4 training days, and this increased liking was maintained across the 4 test days in the group who continued to receive the caffeinated version of the drink in a caffeine-deprived state. Liking decreased in the test phase in the caffeine-deprived group who no longer received caffeine (extinction). It is surprising that both groups who were tested in a non-deprived state showed a marked decrease in liking on all 4 test days relative to the last training day. This implies that conditioned-flavour preferences may not be expressed in the absence of the relevant motivational state (caffeine deprivation). Together, these data suggest that flavour preferences conditioned by caffeine are very sensitive to changes in the contingent relationship between deprivation state and caffeine content of the drink.