John Garcia

John Garcia (born June 12, 1917) is an American psychologist, most known for his research on taste aversion learning. Garcia study at the University of California-Berkeley, where he received his A. B. , M. A. , and Ph. D. degrees in 1955 at the epoch of 38.He was decreed professor Emeritus at Los Angeles University of California, though he at some other points has also been an Assistant Professor at California State College, a Lecturer in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Professor and Chairman of the Psychology Department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Professor of Psychology at the University of Utah. Garcia lived with his parents on their farm. By age 20, he was working as a mechanic making 18-wheeler trucks. A few years later he solved the problem of place mufflers onto submarines and consequently became a ship fitter. citation needed During World War II, he joined the United States Army Air Corps and became a pilot program after persistent nausea, he could no longer fly and he finished his term as an intelligence specialist. When demobilized, he used the G. I. measuring stick to pay for his college tuition. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College were he achieved a bachelors degree. He then attended the University of California at Berkeley where he achieved a masters degree and Ph. D. Garcias first postdoctoral ancestry was with the U. S. Naval Radiological Defense Lab in San Francisco, California in 1955. citation needed He began to study the reaction of the brain to ionizing beam of light in a series of experiments on labo exposeory animals, mainly rats. Garcia noticed that rats reduceed tipsiness water from tractile bottles when in radiation chambers. He suspected that the rats associated the plastic tasting water with the sickness that radiation triggers. During the experiments rats were given one taste, sight, hold up as a neutral stimulus. Later the rats would be exposed to radiation or drugs (t he un erudite stimulus), which would make the rats sick.Through these experiments, Garcia discovered that if a rat became sickening after presented with a new taste, even if the illness occurred several hours later, the rat would avoid that taste. This contradicted the belief that, for conditioning to occur, the unconditioned response (in this case, sickness) must instanter follow the conditioned stimulus-to-be (the taste). Secondly, Garcia discovered that the rats developed aversions to tastes, but not to sights or sounds, disproving the previously held theory that any perceivable stimulus (light, sound, taste, etc. ) could develop a conditioned stimulus for any unconditioned stimulus. citation needed Garcias discovery, conditioned taste aversion1, is considered a survival mechanism because it allows an organism to recognize foods that drive previously been determined to be poisonous, hopefully allowing said organism to avoid sickness. As a result of Garcias work, conditioned t aste aversion has been called the Garcia Effect. passim his work Garcia also achieved a number of awards such as the Howard Crosby rabbit warren Medal and the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. He was elected to the study Academy of Sciences in 1983 and has over 130 publications.