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The distinction between learned and unlearned response is much easier to make in terms of a history of reinforcement than in terms of meaning and conscious use. An important example is crying. Vocal behavior of this sort is clearly an unconditioned response in the new-born infant. For some time it is a function of various states of deprivation and aversive stimulation. But when crying is characteristically followed by parental attentions which are reinforcing, it may become verbal according to our definition. It has become a different behavioral unit because it is now under the control of different variables. It has also probably acquired different properties, for parents are likely to react differently to different intonations or intensities of crying. (p. 45)