Question at position 50 Dr. Meyer is known for his difficult pop quizzes. Immediately before he announces a pop quiz to his students, he walks to the classroom door and closes it. His students soon learn to anticipate a pop quiz whenever Dr. Meyer closes the classroom door. In the context of classical conditioning, closing the door has become a(n)conditioned response.unconditioned response.unconditioned stimulus.conditioned stimulus.

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Interpretation of the scenario begins with identifying the learning process at play: a neutral cue (the closing of the door) becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus (the surprise/pop quiz) so that the cue alone eventually elicits a response from the students.
Option 1: 'conditioned response.' A conditioned response would be the learned behavior or emotional reaction (e.g., expecting a quiz) that occurs in response to the conditioned stimulus. Here, the conditioned stimulus is the door closing, not the response itself, so calling the door closing a conditioned response would be incorrect.
Option 2: 'unconditioned response.' An unconditioned response is an innate, automatic reaction to an unconditioned stimulus (like blinking when something hot approaches). Since the door closing is not the automatic reaction itself, this option mislabels the process: the door closing is not the response but the cue that helps produce a learned response.
Option 3: 'unconditioned stimulus.' An unconditioned stimulus reliably elicits an unconditioned response without prior learning (for example, food causing salivation in a hungry animal). In this scenario, the quiz itself would be more aligned with an unconditioned stimulus as something that naturally provokes a reaction, but the door closing is not the unlearned trigger; it is the signal that becomes the conditioned stimulus after learning. Therefore, labeling the door closing as an unconditioned stimulus is incorrect.
Option 4: 'conditioned stimulus.' This option correctly identifies the door closing as a neutral cue that, after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus (the quiz), acquires the power to evoke a learned response (anticipation of a quiz). The key idea is that the door-closing event starts neutral and becomes a predictor through association, which is the essence of a conditioned stimulus.

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