"2025 MCAT Psych/Soc Practice Exam – All-in-One Guide to Master Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior"

The term "neutral stimulus" aptly describes the phenomenon where a stimulus does not elicit a behavioral response because it is initially irrelevant to the subject's behavior. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is one that, before any conditioning occurs, does not provoke a reaction or response from the subject. Over time, if this neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus, it may become a conditioned stimulus that elicits a response.

In contrast, a conditioned stimulus has already been associated with a response, while an unconditioned response is an automatic reaction to an unconditioned stimulus. Behavioral inhibition, on the other hand, refers to a tendency to restrain actions or emotions in response to certain stimuli, which is not relevant to the lack of response from the neutral stimulus. Therefore, the concept of a neutral stimulus is fundamental to understanding how initially neutral stimuli can become significant through conditioning processes.