Which term refers to the decrease in responsiveness to repeated presentations of a stimulus?

• A. HABILITATION
• B. HABITUATION
• C. HALLWAY TIME OUT
• D. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

Answer: (B)

Habituation is the decrease in responsiveness to repeated presentations of a stimulus. It’s a basic form of learning in which, as the same stimulus is presented again and again, the organism’s response becomes smaller or slower. This helps organisms ignore stimuli that are no longer novel or important. In practice, you might see someone stop blinking at a repeated light flash, or a child stop reacting to a constant background noise after it’s been heard many times. It's different from sensory adaptation, which is a physiological change in the sensory receptors themselves rather than a change in behavior. The other terms don’t capture this idea: habilitation refers to acquiring or improving skills for independence, a hallway time out is a behavior-management technique, and functional analysis is a method for identifying the purpose behind a behavior.