International Journal of Comparative Psychology

The first and most prominent study of selective associations was the so-called bright-noisy-water experiment by Garcia and Koelling (1966). This study was a landmark in the development of thinking about biological constraints on learning and remains the most highly cited study of selective associations, even though it lacked important controls. I first describe the original experiment and initial criticisms of it. I then discuss the various control issues that were ignored in the original experiment but addressed in subsequent research. In this account, I rely primarily on research conducted in my laboratory, because the problems were not addressed by any other investigators. Along the way, I discuss the discovery of a selective sensitization effect related to the Garcia-Koelling findings, ways to rule out selective sensitization, and studies of selective associations in pre-weanling rats. I conclude with a look back at the impact of the Garcia-Koelling experiment and recommendations for new generations of students in the field.