Taste-aversion learning in infant guinea pigs

Infant guinea pigs were hand-fed a 10% sucrose solution and poisoned after delays of 0 min, 30 min, or 24+ hr. Subjects in the first 2 groups showed significant sucrose aversions when tested more than a month later. No significant difference existed between the 0- and 30-min groups; no deficiency in this type of learning was evident even in neonates. All 3 groups showed a lower sucrose preference if first exposed at ages 0-6 days than at 7-11 days. Evidently exposure to sucrose at the earlier ages was less effective in reducing later neophobia to sucrose; although the youngest animals had no evident deficiency in learning aversions, they may have been deficient in learning "safety".