What is the conditioned response?

• A. A natural response to a neutral stimulus
• B. The automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus
• C. A reflex that is present at birth
• D. A learned response to the conditioned stimulus

Answer: (D)

A learned reaction to a stimulus that has become associated with something that naturally elicits a response. After repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus ends up as a conditioned stimulus, and the response it produces is the conditioned response. For example, when a bell (the conditioned stimulus) is paired with food (the unconditioned stimulus) enough times, the dog salivates to the bell alone. That salivation is the conditioned response—a behavior learned through association, not something the animal naturally does to a neutral cue. In contrast, the automatic reaction to the unconditioned stimulus is the unconditioned response, and a reflex present at birth is an innate reflex, not a learned conditioned response.