You decide that you are going to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You give the dog a biscuit, and then a second later you sound the metronome. 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 before the dog ate the biscuit
C) you should have had a longer interval between the metronome and the biscuit
D) Pavlov found that the CS and UCS must be only seconds apart in order to condition salivation

Question

You decide that you are going to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You give the dog a biscuit, and then a second later you sound the metronome. 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 before the dog ate the biscuit 
C) you should have had a longer interval between the metronome and the biscuit
D) Pavlov found that the CS and UCS must be only seconds apart in order to condition salivation

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In classic conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) should be presented before the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to create an association between the two. In this scenario, the dog is being given a biscuit and then the metronome is being sounded. Therefore, the metronome is not being associated with the biscuit and, therefore, not conditioning the dog to salivate to the sound. The metronome should have been sounded before the dog ate the biscuit to create a CS-UCS association. Choice A is not necessarily true, as the metronome could still be a distinctive sound. Choice C is also not necessarily true, as a longer interval between the two stimuli could make the association weaker. Choice D is not relevant, as Pavlov's findings refer specifically to the time frame between the CS and UCS.

You Decide That You Are Going to Condition Your Dog