Context familiarity and delayed conditioned taste aversion in young-adult and old-age rats.

Familiarity with a conditioning context different from the home-cage environment was examined in immediate and delayed (3-hr.) conditioned taste aversion (CTA) learning for young-adult (90-120 days) and old-age (680-750 days) female Wistar albino rats. Context familiarity increased CTA for young adults at the 3-hr. delay. Old-age rats showed no aversion at 3-hr. delays. Results suggest that home-cage cues may be used in mediating long-delay CTA and that the role of these cues may differ with age.