Final answer:
During the extinction process in classical conditioning, the conditioned response (e.g., a dog salivating at the sound of a bell) will gradually disappear if the unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food) is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus (e.g., bell).
Step-by-step explanation:
During the extinction process in classical conditioning, when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus, we can predict that the conditioned response will gradually disappear.
For example, if a dog has been conditioned to salivate when it hears a bell because the bell has been repeatedly paired with the presentation of food, the salivation is the conditioned response. If the bell is rung and no food is presented repeatedly, the dog will eventually stop salivating in response to the bell.
This decrease in the conditioned response occurs because the association between the conditioned stimulus (bell) and the unconditioned stimulus (food) is broken.
The case of the ice cream truck and the music triggering salivation is a human example of the same process. If the truck's music, which has become a conditioned stimulus, is heard without being followed by the reward of eating ice cream, the conditioned response, which is salivation, will start to weaken.
This occurs until the sound of the music no longer triggers the conditioned response of salivation, illustrating extinction.