Question

After repeated pairings of a buzzer and food, a dog is classically conditioned to salivate at the sound of the buzzer. If a light now flashes prior to the sounding of the buzzer (and subsequent delivery of food), the dog may start salivating in response to the light in a process known as:

a) Spontaneous recovery
b) Generalization
c) Discrimination
d) Higher-order conditioning

Answer 1

Higher-order conditioning occurs when a stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus by being paired with another conditioned stimulus. In the case of Pavlov's experiment, a dog learned to salivate in response to a light that was paired with a buzzer, which had already been associated with food.

Step-by-step explanation:

The process described, where the dog started salivating in response to a light that was consistently flashed before the sound of a buzzer, which was associated with food, is known as higher-order conditioning. This is a form of classical conditioning, where a stimulus that is initially neutral becomes a conditioned stimulus due to its association with another conditioned stimulus.

In Pavlov's experiments, the dog salivated (conditioned response) to the sound of a bell (conditioned stimulus) after it had been repeatedly paired with the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus). If a new neutral stimulus, like a light, is paired with the already established conditioned stimulus (bell), and the sequence leads to food, the animal can learn to associate the light with food as well. Consequently, the light becomes a new conditioned stimulus leading to salivation, demonstrating higher-order conditioning.