Habituation revisited: an updated and revised description of the behavioral characteristics of habituation.
The most commonly cited descriptions of the behavioral characteristics of habituation come from two papers published almost 40 years ago [Groves, P. M., & Thompson, R. F. (1970). Habituation: A dual-process theory. Psychological Review, 77, 419-450; Thompson, R. F., & Spencer, W. A. (1966). Habituation: A model phenomenon for the study of neuronal substrates of behavior. Psychological Review, 73, 16-43]. In August 2007, the authors of this review, who study habituation in a wide range of species and paradigms, met to discuss their work on habituation and to revisit and refine the characteristics of habituation. This review offers a re-evaluation of the characteristics of habituation in light of these discussions. We made substantial changes to only a few of the characteristics, usually to add new information and expand upon the description rather than to substantially alter the original point. One additional characteristic, relating to long-term habituation, was added. This article thus provides a modern summary of the characteristics defining habituation, and can serve as a convenient primer for those whose research involves stimulus repetition.
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver BCV6H1B3, Canada. crankin@psych.ubc.ca
Catharine H
CH
Rankin
Thomas
T
Abrams
Robert J
RJ
Barry
Seema
S
Bhatnagar
David F
DF
Clayton
John
J
Colombo
Gianluca
G
Coppola
Mark A
MA
Geyer
David L
DL
Glanzman
Stephen
S
Marsland
Frances K
FK
McSweeney
Donald A
DA
Wilson
Chun-Fang
CF
Wu
Richard F
RF
Thompson
D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans