Habituation is a form of non-associative learning where an animal stops responding to a stimulus after repeated exposure. Experiments were conducted with mice and women's groups to study habituation. When exposed to a loud surprised noise, mice initially reflexed but this response decreased with repeated exposure. Habituation helps animals filter irrelevant stimuli from their environments. For example, prairie dogs give alarm calls less frequently for humans they encounter regularly near their trails, conserving their energy. Elephants and other animals in Serengeti National Park also learn to ignore photo safari vans after repeated safe encounters.

1. HABITUATION
Dr. Surjya Kumar Saikia
Department of Zoology
Visva-Bharati University

2. Expected outcomes
• We will be able to know habituation as animal behavior
• We will be able to understand how habituation influences
animal behavior

3. HABITUATION IS A NON-ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning, in which
an animal, after a period of exposure to a stimulus, stops
responding.

5. EXPERIMENTS WITH WOMEN GROUP FOR HABITUATION

6. ON HEARING A SURPRISED LOUD NOISE, MICE REFLEX WITH A JIGGLE

7. Habituation is the decrease in response strength with repeated exposure to a
particular eliciting stimulus.
Sensitization is the increase in response strength with repeated exposure to a
particular stimulus.
Dual-Process Theory

8. Homeostatic model
Habituation and sensitization processes in opposition
Net sum of 2 processes determines overall effect

9. Habituation is important in filtering the large amounts of
information received from the surrounding environment.

10. Prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus, give alarm calls
when mammals, large birds, or snakes approach.
Individual prarie dogs are particularly susceptible to
becoming food for a coyote, hawk, or rattlesnake, but
collectively well-defended, as their alarm calls facilitate
escape in burrows.
When prairie dog houses are located near trails used by
humans, giving alarm calls every time a person walks by
is a waste of time and energy for the group. Habituation
to humans is an important adaptation in this context.
From flickr.com

11. After repeated safe encounters with vans transporting
humans on photo safari, many animals, including giraffes,
zebras, lions, and elephants, in the Serengeti National
Park, Tanzania learn to ignore them. Elephants typically
ignore the vans unless the driver provokes them by
moving too close. In that event the elephant may
challenge and even charge the van