Spontaneous recovery of consummatory behavior, but not of consummatory successive negative contrast

Five experiments were designed to study spontaneous recovery (SR) in two situations involving consummatory behavior: consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) and consummatory extinction (cE). SR of consummatory suppression should occur if incentive downshift induces an egocentric memory encoding information about the emotional reaction to the downshift that is counterconditioned or extinguished during exposure to the downshifted reward. SR of cSNC failed to occur after resting periods of 24, 96, or 336 h interpolated following complete (Experiment 1) and incomplete (Experiment 2) recuperation of consummatory behavior, and was not induced by the opioid-receptor antagonist naloxone (2 mg/kg), known to enhance cSNC (Experiment 3). However, SR of consummatory behavior occurred across sessions in cSNC (Experiment 3) and cE (Experiments 4–5). Furthermore, naloxone facilitated cE without affecting SR (Experiments 4–5). These results are discussed in relation to evidence for the development of an egocentric memory of the aversive downshift experience in consummatory situations. 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Surprising downshifts in incentive quality or quantity often lead to aversive emotional arousal. Traditionally, the emotion triggered by unexpected reductions of appetitive incentives has been labeled frustration (Amsel, 1992). Surprising reward reductions have been extensively studied in the context of two basic procedures differentiated by the extent of the loss (Mackintosh, 1974). In successive negative contrast (SNC) the loss is partial as the incentive is reduced to a nonzero value, whereas in appec. All rights reserved. by Santiago Pellegrini and Leonardo Ortega on an earlier version of this