AP PSYCHOLOGY

LEARNING

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Once Pavlov’s dogs learned to salivate to the sound of a tuning fork, the tuning fork was a(n)
A
unconditioned stimulus
B
neutral stimulus
C
conditioned stimulus
D
unconditioned response
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Pavlov tested that food produced saliva but the sound of a tuning fork did not. This showed that the tuning fork was a neutral stimulus for the dogs.

Detailed explanation-2: -The dogs salivating for food is the unconditioned response in Pavlov’s experiment. A conditioned stimulus is a stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response. In the described experiment, the conditioned stimulus was the ringing of the bell, and the conditioned response was salivation.

Detailed explanation-3: -The sound of a metronome was chosen to be the neutral stimulus. The dogs would first be exposed to the sound of the ticking metronome, and then the food was immediately presented. After several conditioning trials, Pavlov noted that the dogs began to salivate after hearing the metronome.

Detailed explanation-4: -EX: In Pavlov’s dog experiment, the stimulus is the sound of the tuning fork after the dog has been conditioned because that tone now produces the response of salivation.

Detailed explanation-5: -During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented repeatedly just after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone produces a conditioned response (salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.

There is 1 question to complete.