Contribution of the rat's neocortex to ingestive control: I. Latent learning for the taste of sodium chloride.

Neocortical mechanisms do not directly contribute to the execution of taste discrimination, sodium appetite, or the acquisition of a taste aversion in the rat. Examination of previous studies led to the question of whether some permanent ingestive control deficit would be revealed if elements of these experimental paradigms were combined. A latent learning paradigm for the taste of salt was applied to decorticate rats. The ability of decorticate rats to associate how they obtained the taste of NaCl when sodium replete was assessed by examining bar presses during extinction when sodium depleted. Intact rats exposed to 4-6 hr of NaCl taste training retained the association after decortication; decorticate rats exposed to the same training acquired the association. What was most striking was that decorticate rats exposed to as little as 2 min of NaCl taste training demonstrated the ability to associate bar pressing with NaCl by their resistance to extinction. The association was specific to NaCl training; training with distilled water or KCl did not yield resistance to extinction during sodium depletion. Subcortical structures are therefore adequate for latent learning involving NaCl taste. Conversely, data of other investigators have revealed that the neocortex is required for the retention of taste aversion learning for the same taste.