Final answer:
Your mouth watering before eating is a conditioned reflex, which is a type of long-term memory related to the anticipatory phase of digestion. It is a learned response where the brain signals the digestive system to prepare food upon sensing its smell, sight, or thought.
Step-by-step explanation:
When your mouth is watering before eating, it involves a type of long-term memory known as a conditioned reflex. This reflex is part of the cephalic phase of digestion, where the smell, taste, sight, or thought of food triggers your salivary glands to produce saliva in preparation for digestion. When you anticipate the enjoyment of a desirable food, such as a flan, the brain sends signals that increase gastric secretion.
This response is learned over time through experiences that associate certain stimuli (like the sight of food) with the act of eating. Dr. Pavlov's experiment with dogs illustrates the development of conditioned reflexes quite well—after repeated pairings of a bell with food, the dogs began to salivate just at the sound of the bell even without the presence of food.