Ivan Pavlov is credited with the initial discovery of what concept?

Ivan Pavlov is best known for his pioneering work in classical conditioning, a fundamental concept in behavioral psychology. In his famous experiments with dogs, Pavlov discovered that he could condition them to salivate at the sound of a bell when it was consistently paired with the presentation of food. This demonstrated how a neutral stimulus (the bell) could become associated with an unconditioned stimulus (the food) to elicit a conditioned response (salivation). This process of associating a response with a previously neutral stimulus laid the groundwork for further research in learning and behavior. Classical conditioning has since been essential in understanding various aspects of learning and has wide applications in both psychology and education.