A person is given an insulin injection each day with a similar-looking syringe. After a few injections, the mere sight of the syringe results in a rise in blood sugar. Which of the following is the best example of a procedure that could follow the original conditioning procedure (just described) and thus result in second-order conditioning?

A) Classical music is presented just before the syringe, now filled with a placebo-based substance, is presented. After a while, the classical music itself will begin to produce a rise in blood sugar.
B) The syringe is filled with twice the dose of insulin, but it takes several such presentations before there is an appropriate increase in the amount of rise in blood sugar to presentation of the syringe.
C) The syringe is filled with a placebo-based substance. After repeated presentations of the syringe, there is no longer a rise in blood sugar.
D) A loud gong that sounds just after the presentation of the syringe results in a pronounced startle response to the sight of the syringe.

Question

Joshua Wagner · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : A, Explanation :  Second-order conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus (classical music) with a conditioned stimulus (the syringe) that has already been associated with an unconditioned stimulus (insulin injection) to produce a conditioned response (rise in blood sugar). In this case, the classical music is paired with the syringe, which has become a conditioned stimulus due to its association with insulin injections. After repeated pairings, the classical music itself should elicit a rise in blood sugar as a result of second-order conditioning.

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