The salivation was significant because it demonstrated the ability to learn to anticipate future events as a survival advantage.
Explanation:
Pavlov wanted to clarify how conditioned reflexes were acquired. Dogs naturally salivate for food; Pavlov thus called the correlation between the unconditioned stimulus (food) and the unconditioned response (salivation) an unconditioned reflex. On the other hand, when a stimulus does not elicit any response, it is called a neutral stimulus (bell sound).
Pavlov's experiment was to associate an unconditioned stimulus (food) with the presentation of a neutral stimulus (bell sound).
After repeating this association of stimuli, he found that the dog learned to salivate before the stimulus that previously did not elicit any (neutral) response even in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (food). This salivation was significant because it demonstrated the ability to learn to anticipate future events as a survival advantage.
A conditioned stimulus when paired with a bell. When the bell was rang food was presented. So upon hearing the bell the dog would salivate because he knew simply put food would then follow. This became known as classical conditioning.
The parasympathetic nervous system is characterized by the location preganglionic neurons and the short postganglionic axons near the organs they innervate. The preganglionic neurons would originate in the spinal cord or the brainstem while the postganglionic neurons would lie outside the CNS.
