In Pavlov's experiments, what was the salivation of the dogs classified as?

In Pavlov's experiments, the salivation of the dogs before any conditioning occurs is classified as an unconditioned response. This is a natural, instinctual reaction that happens in response to an unconditioned stimulus, which in this case is food. When food is presented to the dogs, they salivate automatically without any prior learning involved. This is foundational to understanding classical conditioning, as it exemplifies how certain responses are innate and do not require prior conditioning to elicit them.

In contrast, conditioned responses occur only after a neutral stimulus has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus—that is, after the dogs have learned to associate the sound of a bell (the neutral stimulus) with the arrival of food, leading to salivation in response to the bell alone. Neutral stimuli and conditioned stimuli refer to the elements used throughout Pavlov's experiments, with the latter becoming a trigger for the learned response after several pairings with the unconditioned stimulus.