conditioned stimuli

Conditioned stimuli are stimuli that trigger a response due to prior association with something significant. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus becomes meaningful when paired with an unconditioned stimulus that naturally elicits a response. For example, if a dog hears a bell (neutral stimulus) before being fed (unconditioned stimulus), it eventually starts to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. Over time, the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus, causing the salivation response on its own. This concept illustrates how behaviors can be learned through associations in our environment.