Question

Jonas is a veteran of the war in iraq. he suffers from ptsd. now, back home in a quiet california neighborhood, he jumps when he hears a firecracker or a car backfire. in the terminology of classical conditioning, these sounds are best thought of as _____ stimuli.

Answer 1

The fact that Jonas suffers from ptsd and when he hears a firecracker or a car backfire he jumps, means that  he is experienced conditioned stimuli. The firecracker before Jonas went to Iraq was a neutral stimulus that. But in Iraq it become  associated with other unconditioned stimulus and triggered , a conditioned response.