Which term refers to a stimulus that does not elicit a response in the current context?

• A. Eliciting stimulus
• B. Conditioned stimulus
• C. Unconditioned stimulus
• D. Neutral stimulus

Answer: (D)

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is a stimulus that does not evoke a response in the current situation. It starts out without any built-in effect, like a tone that doesn’t make the organism salivate. Through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (something that naturally triggers a response, such as food), that neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus and then evoke a learned response. So this term specifically describes something that, at first, doesn’t trigger the reflex or behavior in play. The other terms describe stimuli that do produce responses: an eliciting stimulus triggers a response, an unconditioned stimulus naturally causes a reflex before learning, and a conditioned stimulus causes a learned response after conditioning.