Which scenario illustrates classical conditioning in the examples provided?

• A. A child becomes fearful of a doctor after vaccines
• B. After tasting Indian food, you expect it to be spicy
• C. You learn to ride a bicycle
• D. You eat a new food and then get sick; you develop dislike for the food and feel nauseated when you smell it

Answer: (D)

Classical conditioning is learning to connect a neutral cue with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral cue eventually triggers a learned response. In this case, the food’s smell or taste starts as a neutral cue. After you eat it and become sick, illness is an unconditioned stimulus that naturally causes nausea (unconditioned response). Through pairing, the food’s smell or taste becomes a conditioned stimulus, and simply smelling or thinking of the food later elicits nausea (conditioned response). This is a classic taste-aversion example—one pairing can create a long-lasting avoidance of that food. The other scenarios involve different learning processes (like learning by consequences or contextual fear) and don’t illustrate the straightforward neutral-to-stimulus pairing that defines classical conditioning as clearly.