Pavlov's initial experiments refer to the famous studies conducted by Ivan Pavlov in which he trained dogs to associate a neutral stimulus (such as the sound of a bell) with a reflexive response (such as salivating). This led to the discovery of classical conditioning, a type of learning in which an organism forms associations between stimuli and responses.
Related terms
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): The unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that naturally elicits a reflexive response without any prior learning. For example, in Pavlov's experiment, it was the presentation of food.
Unconditioned Response (UCR): The unconditioned response is an automatic or reflexive reaction that occurs without any prior learning. In Pavlov's experiment, it was salivation in response to food.
The conditioned stimulus is initially neutral but becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus through repeated pairings. In Pavlov's experiment, it was the sound of the bell that eventually elicited salivation after being paired with food.