AP Psychology Practice Test 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

In classical conditioning, the phase that involves associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus is called acquisition. During acquisition, the neutral stimulus is paired with the unconditioned stimulus repeatedly until the neutral stimulus alone can elicit the conditioned response. This process creates the association between the two stimuli, leading to the formation of a conditioned response.

The other options are not correct in this context:

- Extinction refers to the diminishing of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented following the conditioned stimulus.

- Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period without any further conditioning.

- Discrimination in classical conditioning involves the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.