In Pavlov's experiments with dogs, what was the conditioned stimulus?

In Pavlov's experiments with dogs, the conditioned stimulus is indeed the bell. Initially, the bell served as a neutral stimulus that did not elicit a response from the dogs. However, through the process of conditioning, Pavlov repeatedly paired the sound of the bell with the presentation of food. Eventually, after several pairings, the dogs began to salivate in response to the bell alone, demonstrating that the bell had become a conditioned stimulus.

The transition from a neutral stimulus to a conditioned stimulus is central to classical conditioning. The conditioned stimulus is what elicits a conditioned response after the association has been made, which in this case is the salivation of the dogs when they hear the bell. This foundational concept in learning theory illustrates how organisms can learn to associate one stimulus with another, leading to learned behaviors.