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Human Example of a Poisoned Cue: Rat Analogy

Imagine we are helping a person who is terrified of rats. We want to pair the presence of a rat with something positive which happens to be a favourite dessert.

But instead of starting small, we rush the process:

The very first time they get the dessert, it is placed in their hands while a live rat is released in the room.

The person is overwhelmed with fear, panics, and can only focus on the rat.

Now, instead of thinking, My favourite dessert = good feelings, they may feel: My favourite dessert = rats appearing and terrifying me.” The dessert has now become a poisoned cue, something that once felt good now predicts fear. And instead of helping the person, the rushed pairing made things worse.