conditioned reaction
- noun
- /kənˈdɪʃənd riˈækʃən/
- Specialized
:
reacción condicionada
- The dog’s conditioned reaction to the bell was to start salivating, expecting food.
Examples
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Fear of thunder can become a conditioned reaction if a person has had negative experiences during storms.
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After repeated sessions, a conditioned reaction developed in the lab rats whenever a light was switched on.
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The dog showed a conditioned reaction to the bell.
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She developed a conditioned reaction to the sound of the whistle.
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After repeated sessions, a conditioned reaction developed in the lab rats whenever a light was switched on.
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Fear of thunder can become a conditioned reaction if a person has had negative experiences during storms.
-
The dog’s conditioned reaction to the bell was to start salivating, expecting food.
Synonyms
3
4.8
A learned reaction to a signal, like a bell, that happens after the signal is often shown with something else
1
5.3
An automatic response learned when a neutral sound or sign is repeatedly paired with something that naturally causes it
1
5.7
A reaction a person develops from practice or experience, not one they are born with
A learned reaction to a sound or signal after it happens many times
A learned response that happens when a certain sound or signal appears, for example a dog drooling at a bell
An automatic learned reaction to a signal after repeated practice, for example a dog drooling at a bell
A learned automatic response to a signal, for example salivating at a bell
A way of acting you get from practice or experience
How Automatic
- Specialized
1
5.3
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositionally predictable: 'conditioned' means established through repeated association and 'reaction' means a response, so a learner who knows both words can infer a learned response to a stimulus. This adjective+noun construction follows standard cross-linguistic patterns, making the meaning immediately understandable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The term conditioned reaction comes from a famous experiment with dogs by Ivan Pavlov: he rang a bell before giving food, and after this had happened many times the dogs salivated when they heard the bell. Here conditioned means 'trained' by repeating the bell and reaction is the action the dogs showed, so the phrase now means a 'learned response'.