Answer :
This question is missing the options. I've found the complete question online. It is as follows:
A research assistant in a lab conditions dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell. During conditioning, the assistant rings a bell and then presents the animal with food. After conditioning the dog to salivate to the bell, the bell is the _____ stimulus and the food is the _____ stimulus.
a) unconditioned; neutral
b) neutral; conditioned
c) unconditioned; conditioned
d) conditioned; unconditioned
Answer:
After conditioning the dog to salivate to the bell, the bell is the conditioned stimulus and the food is the unconditioned stimulus.
d) conditioned; unconditioned
Explanation:
Prior to conditioning, the bell was a neutral stimulus. That means it didn't really mean anything to the dogs; it didn't cause a response in them. During conditioning, the bell (neutral) was paired with an unconditioned stimulus: food. An unconditioned stimulus is something that causes a natural, automatic response. In the dogs, seeing food made them salivate. After ringing the bell while presenting the food several times, the research assistant gets the dogs conditioned. They learn to associate the sound of the bell with food and, even though food is no longer presented, they still salivate. We can say conditioning has happened. Food continues to be an unconditioned stimulus. The bell, however, is no longer a neutral stimulus. Since it can now cause the dogs to salivated, it has become a conditioned stimulus.