The effect of electroconvulsive shock on the attenuation of taste-aversion conditioning produced by flavor preexposure.

The effect of electroconvulsive shock on the attenuation of taste-aversion conditioning produced by preexposure to the flavor conditioned stimulus (CS) was examined in three experiments. Electroconvulsive shock administered immediately after flavor preexposure attenuated the flavor-preexposure effect whereas delayed electroconvulsive shock did not. Attenuation of the flavor-preexposure effect resulted even though memory for the flavor CS remained intact, suggesting that electroconvulsive shock interfered with associative processes.