6. Samantha's cat salivates in response to the taste of food in its mouth. Each morning, Samantha places the cat's food on the back porch. When the door to the porch opens, a bell rings. So, each time Samantha opens the door the bell rings. Now, Samantha's cat salivates when the bell rings. What is the unconditioned stimulus in this example?

The answer is the food.

Explanation:

In classical conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (the sound of the bell) is associated with an unconditioned stimulus (the food). This produces a reaction known as conditioned response (the salivation).

Unconditioned stimuli are those which naturally produce a response. Salivating when tasting food is only logical: it has not been conditioned. These stimuli can be paired with an unrelated stimulus (e.g. a sound) in order to condition the response.

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