A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention. In classical conditioning, when used together with an unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus. With repeated presentations of both the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus will elicit a response as well, known as a conditioned response. Once the neutral stimulus elicits a conditioned response, the neutral stimulus becomes known as a conditioned stimulus. The conditioned response is the same as the unconditioned response, but occurs in the presence of the conditioned stimulus rather than the unconditioned stimulus.
For example, in Pavlovs experiments, the sound of a bell ringing was a neutral stimulus that was presented to dogs along with food, which acted as an unconditioned stimulus. The presentation of the neutral stimulus did not result in any particular response, but the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus resulted in an unconditioned response, which was the dogs salivating in Pavlovs experiments. After conditioning, the bell ringing became a conditioned stimulus.
Neutral stimuli are important in classical conditioning because they allow for the creation of new associations between stimuli and responses.
