Describe the experiment in which Ivan Pavlov first confirmed the existence of classical conditioning.

Answer:

Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: Ivan Pavlov conducted an experiment in order to determine whether he could condition a dog to salivate upon hearing a bell. The bell was a neutral stimulus, which had no associations for the animal at the beginning of the experiment. In other words, the bell did not cause any particular response in the dog. The dog’s unconditioned response was the salivation that occurred naturally when the dog encountered or smelled its food, which was the unconditioned stimulus. During his experiment, Pavlov rang his bell (NS) before giving the dog the food (US). The food would cause the dog to salivate (UR). After many repetitions, the dog began to associate the bell with the food, and the bell would cause the dog to salivate even when the food was not presented. At this point, the bell become a conditioned stimulus, and the salivation was a conditioned response.