RESUMO
The extent to which hormones can serve as unconditioned stimuli in a conditioned taste aversion paradigm was examined in guinea pigs, with 0.2% saccharine solution serving as the conditioned stimulus. Subcutaneously injected estrogenic hormones were found to be a potent unconditioned stimuli. This work was carried out on 50 adult male guinea pigs. Results showed that the average drinking time taken by the control C group was significantly higher than that of the treated groups during habituation. During the test session, the C group drank significantly more of the solution to which it was averted than did the estrogen treated groups, and drank significantly less of the comparison solution. The exploratory behavior has been significantly suppressed in the treated animals. Results could explain and help in underst and ing the mechanisms involved in conditioned taste aversion learning as a wide array of hormone dependent behavioral responses