A breast-feeding woman leaves her baby at home and meets a friend for dinner. Two tables over, a baby is crying and the woman notices her shirt becomes wet from leaking milk. Explain the physiological link between hearing that sound and the ejection of milk.

Answer:

The above example is related to Pavlov's experiment on classical conditioning. As the mother is used to breast-feeding her baby when it cries, the sound of a crying baby elicits a sub-conscious reaction to the sound, that it is time for breast-feeding the baby. The body prepares itself for the same by allowing the production and release of milk due to the external response, in a similar way that some one else with the same ringtone getting a call makes you involuntarily check your pockets for your phone, as you sub-consciously think it's your phone that's ringing.