Meaning & use
conditioned stimulus
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
In learning theory, a signal that began as meaningless to an animal or person but now sets off a reaction because it has repeatedly come just before something that matters.
Grammar: Usually takes an article: a conditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus; plural is conditioned stimuli.
Patterns
- pair a conditioned stimulus with something
- a conditioned stimulus for something
In Pavlov's famous study, the sound of a bell became a conditioned stimulus for the dogs.
The psychologist explained that the flashing light was a conditioned stimulus because the rats had learned it came before a shock.
After weeks of training, the smell of the clinic had become a conditioned stimulus that made the child nervous.
Word forms
| plural | conditioned stimuli |
|---|
Common combinations
- pair a conditioned stimulus with
- The researchers paired a conditioned stimulus with a puff of air to the eye.
- present the conditioned stimulus
- When they presented the conditioned stimulus alone, the dogs still began to drool.
- a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus
- A neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus once it reliably predicts food.
- the conditioned stimulus alone
- Responses to the conditioned stimulus alone slowly faded during extinction trials.
- auditory conditioned stimulus
- An auditory conditioned stimulus, such as a tone, was used in the experiment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cue
- A cue is any signal that prompts a reaction, whereas a conditioned stimulus is specifically one whose power was learned through pairing.
- trigger
- Trigger is an everyday word for anything that sets off a reaction, and it does not suggest the controlled training the technical term implies.
- signal
- Signal is broader still, since it need not produce an automatic learned response.
Opposites
Word family
- conditioning noun
- the process of learning through pairing
- condition verb
- to train a response through repeated pairing
- conditioned response noun
- the learned reaction triggered by the stimulus
- stimulus noun
- anything that provokes a reaction
Commonly confused: conditioned stimulus or conditioned response? conditioned stimulus or unconditioned stimulus?
conditioned stimulus vs conditioned response
The stimulus is what is presented, such as a bell; the response is the reaction it produces, such as drooling.
conditioned stimulus vs unconditioned stimulus
This one triggers a reaction naturally with no learning, like food causing salivation.
Practice
In Pavlov's experiment, a bell was rung just before food was given until the dogs drooled at the bell alone. What was the bell?
Choose one answer.
The bell began as neutral and gained its power through pairing, so it is the conditioned stimulus. The food is the unconditioned stimulus, and drooling is the response, not a stimulus.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “conditioned stimulus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.