Taste reactivity responses elicited by cocaine-, phencyclidine-, and methamphetamine-paired sucrose solutions

The nature of flavor-drug associations produced by a range of doses of the reinforcing agents cocaine (5, 10, 15, 20, or 40 mg/kg sc), phencyclidine (0.5, 2, 10, or 20 mg/kg sc), and methamphetamine (2, 5, or 10 mg/kg ip) were assessed by the taste reactivity (TR) test and the conditioned taste avoidance (CTA) test. Even at the highest doses tested, none of the agents produced aversive TR responding. At doses that produced equivalent-strength CTA, lithium did establish aversive TR responding. These results provide evidence that drugs that serve as reinforcers in other paradigms produce conditioned flavor avoidance that is not motivated by a conditioned dislike for the flavor.