OCR General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Biology Practice Exam

During which stage of Pavlov's experiment does the bell not elicit a response?

1. Stage 1

2. Stage 2

3. Stage 3

4. Stage 4

The correct answer is: Stage 2

In Pavlov's experiment, the correct stage during which the bell does not elicit a response is indeed the second stage. This initial setup is where the bell is presented to the dog without any food. At this point, the bell is a neutral stimulus and does not produce a salivary response from the dogs because they have not yet associated the sound with food. It is only after repeated pairings of the bell with the presentation of food that the dogs learn to respond to the bell alone, indicating the formation of a conditioned response. This process is crucial in understanding the steps of classical conditioning, where the establishment of associations between stimuli leads to behavioral responses.