PSYC 3410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Habituation, Dishabituation, Neural Adaptation
19 Dec 2017
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Without habituation, our attention would be caught by all stimulation, even the unimportant ones. Habituation- responsiveness to a speci c stimulus declines with repeated experiences. Sensitization- responsiveness to a speci c stimulus increases with repeated experiences. Habituation is a form of learning, and we must verify that by rulling out other explainations for why the subject is getting less responsive to the stimuli (fatigue, sensory adaptation) Dishabituation- the recovery of responding to the old stimulus that had been habituated due to the introduction of a new stimulus. Learning in a marine snail: gill withdrawal re ex, habituation: repeated touching of the siohon, there is a decrement in the gill withdrawal re ex, dishabituation: a brief shock to the tail restores subsequent gill withdrawal response. For learning to occur, you need distributed practice, rather than having repeated stimulus in very quick succession.
