Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Definition

A conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually triggers a conditioned response.

Analogy

Let's go back to the dog training example. The command "sit" was initially just a word (neutral) but after being paired with the treat (unconditioned stimulus), it becomes a conditioned stimulus that makes your dog sit down.

Related terms

Neutral Stimulus (NS): This is something that does not trigger a response on its own, but can become a conditioned stimulus when paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US): This is something that naturally and automatically triggers an unlearned response without previous conditioning.

Stimulus Generalization: This refers to the tendency for the conditioned response to be evoked by stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus.