Question:medium

Which of the following statements best describes classical conditioning?

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Think of Pavlov's bell alone making the dog salivate.
Updated On: Jun 25, 2026
  • Unconditioned stimulus producing an unconditioned response
  • Conditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response
  • Association between a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response
  • Association between an unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Classical conditioning is associative learning described by Ivan Pavlov. A biologically potent unconditioned stimulus (UCS, e.g. food) reflexively evokes an unconditioned response (UCR, e.g. salivation). When a neutral stimulus (e.g. a bell) is paired with the UCS many times, the neutral stimulus is transformed into a conditioned stimulus (CS).

The defining, observable outcome of successful conditioning is that this conditioned stimulus, presented alone, now triggers a learned reaction - the conditioned response (CR). So the phrase that captures the learned phenomenon is "conditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response."

The other choices are distractors: a UCS evoking a UCR is just the pre-existing reflex; describing the link as CS-CR or UCS-UCR misrepresents the mechanism, since the underlying association formed during acquisition is between the CS and the UCS.

\[\boxed{\text{CS} \rightarrow \text{CR (conditioned stimulus produces conditioned response)}}\]
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