New Mexico Highlands University

A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly associated with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response. For example, in Pavlov's experiments, the tone was initially a neutral stimulus, but after being paired with meat powder over and over again, it became a conditioned stimulus that caused the dogs to salivate.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Which of the following would be considered a neutral stimulus for a dog?


Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

The conditioned response (CR) is the learned behavior elicited by a conditioned stimulus (CS) after the CS has been repeatedly associated with an unconditioned stimulus. For instance, in Pavlov's experiments, the dogs' salivation in response to the tone alone was the conditioned response, as they had learned to anticipate food upon hearing it.

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