You decide that you are going to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You sound the metronome and then several minutes later you give the dog a biscuit. You do this several times but no conditioning seems to occur. This is probably because ________.
A) the metronome was not a distinctive sound
B) the metronome should have been sounded after the animal ate the biscuit
C) you should have had an even longer interval between the metronome and the biscuit
D) the biscuit was given too long after the sound of the metronome

Question

You decide that you are going to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You sound the metronome and then several minutes later you give the dog a biscuit. You do this several times but no conditioning seems to occur. This is probably because ________.
A) the metronome was not a distinctive sound
B) the metronome should have been sounded after the animal ate the biscuit 
C) you should have had an even longer interval between the metronome and the biscuit
D) the biscuit was given too long after the sound of the metronome

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The most likely reason for the lack of conditioning is that the biscuit was given too long after the sound of the metronome. For a successful Pavlovian conditioning, the presentation of the conditioned stimulus (metronome) must reliably precede the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus (biscuit) in order to build an association between the two stimuli. The time between the sound of the metronome and the biscuit may have been too long for the dog to make the association.

You Decide That You Are Going to Condition Your Dog