Question

A classic study in classical conditioning involved a researcher injecting mice with a drug that reduced their immunity. The injection of the drug was paired with giving the mice sweet water. This was done over several trails. Then, the mice were given just the sweet water, and not the drug injection. It was found that the mice immune systems showed evidence of being suppressed after drinking sweet water but NOT after drinking plain water. What would you conclude from this?

Answer 1

We can conclude that the immune suppression of rats was conditioned to consumption of sweet water.

Step-by-step explanation:

Classical conditioning consists of forming an association between two stimuli, generating a learned response. Pairing between an unconditioned stimulus (which generates an unconditioned response) and a conditioned stimulus must occur, which at the end of the process will generate a conditioned response.

In the question, the injection with the drug is the unconditioned stimulus, which provokes an unconditioned response from the rat organism (reduced their immunity). The application of the drug was paired with consumptiom of sweet water by the mice (which plays the role of conditioned stimulus). After several trails, the consumption of sweet water started to elicit the same response that was caused by the drug application in the mice, that is, the reduction of immunity. Thus, the conditioned stimulus began to produce a conditioned response. The consumption of plain water was not able to elicit the same response from the mice organism because this stimulus was not previously paired to the unconditioned stimulus.