Habituation

Behavior is often categorized into two fundamental forms: respondent and operant behavior. Respondent behavior is often called elicited behavior because it occurs in reaction to events or stimuli in the environment and is demonstrable in all animals with a nervous system. Respondent behavior includes reflexes (i.e., sucking in an infant when its mother's nipple is presented) and more complex responses such as feeding or reproductive behaviors that are elicited by multiple stimuli in the environment.

Habituation is considered to be an example of the most basic change in behavior that results from experience (i.e., learning). Habituation is defined as a diminution or reduction in responding after repeated presentations of an unconditioned environmental stimulus, and is differentiated from extinction, which involves a reduction in responding ...