AP PSYCHOLOGY

LEARNING

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
When Chris turns on the light to his aquarium the fish swim to the top even before he sprinkles the food. What used to be a neutral stimulus for the fish?
A
the food
B
the water
C
the light
D
John
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -The turning on of the light, which was once a NS, is now the conditioned stimulus (CS) because it was paired with the feeding of the fish. (UCS). And the fish swimming to the top to eat the food, which was once the UCR, is now the conditioned response (CR).

Detailed explanation-2: -A good example of a neutral stimulus is a sound or a song. When it is initially presented, the neutral stimulus has no effect on behavior. As it is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, it will begin to cause the same response as the UCS.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

Detailed explanation-4: -In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus (NS) is a stimulus that initially does not evoke a response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus. For example, in Pavlov’s experiment the bell was the neutral stimulus, and only produced a response when it was paired with food.

Detailed explanation-5: -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.

There is 1 question to complete.