A dog, taught to salivate to the sound of a buzzer, learned that the buzzer was no longer followed by food and stopped salivating to the buzzer. If the the buzzer was again paired with food after a few weeks, the dog would probably ________.
A) not salivate
B) salivate
C) require only one trial pairing of the buzzer and the food to reestablish the association and begin salivating to the buzzer again
D) salivate only if the buzzer was dissimilar to the one on which it was conditioned

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The dog would likely salivate again to the sound of the buzzer, as it had previously learned to associate the sound with food. This is known as classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning. It is possible that it may take some time for the association to be re-established, but it is likely that the dog would eventually begin salivating to the buzzer again. Choice C is incorrect because it is unlikely that only one trial would be needed to re-establish the association after several weeks of unpairing the buzzer with food. Choice D is incorrect because there is no reason to believe that the dog would only respond to a different buzzer tone.

A Dog, Taught to Salivate to the Sound of a Buzzer