Sensory systems may stop, after a while, sending signals to the brain in response to a continuously present or often-repeated stimulus Cohen et al. Lack of continued response to strong odors is a common example of sensory habitation. Habituation to complex stimuli may occur at the level of the brain; the stimulus is still perceived, but the animal has simply "decided" to no longer pay attention Rose and Rankin Even odor habituation can take place centrally, in the brain.
In rats Deshmukh and Bhalla hypothesized that cells in the hippocampus could time the intervals between odor inputs; frequent stimuli resulted, in their study, in a cessation of response at the level of the hippocampus..
Habituation is important in filtering the large amounts of information received from the surrounding environment. By habituating to less important signals, an animal can focus its attention on the most important features of its environment.
A good example of this is species that rely on alarm calls to convey information about predators. In this case animals stop giving alarm calls when they become familiar with other species in their environment that turn out not to be predators. Habituation is an important component of "not crying wolf" when non-threatening animals come close. Explore This Park. Grand Canyon National Park Arizona.
Info Alerts Maps Calendar Reserve. Alerts In Effect Dismiss. Dismiss View all alerts. Wildlife Habituation. Habituation occurs when animals are exposed to the same stimuli repeatedly, and eventually stop responding to that stimulus. Wild animals should have a fear of humans, but in Grand Canyon National Park, many wild animals are constantly exposed to people. As a result, they lose their fear of humans and stop acting naturally around the humans in the park. When wild animals no longer see humans as a threat, they allow humans to come very close to them- or the animal will approach a human.
While this gives visitors an incredible opportunity to view wildlife, habituation is dangerous for both animals and people. For example, rock squirrels are a commonly habituated animal in the park. If a person comes close trying to take a picture, the squirrel will scamper away. After this happens many times, the squirrel becomes less afraid of people, and a person can come closer before the squirrel leaves. This process repeats over a period of time, with the squirrel slowly becoming less scared of people.
Eventually, the squirrel will completely lose its fear of people, and will allow people to stand beside it without being scared away. If people feed the squirrel, it will start the think of people as a food source, rather than a threat, and the squirrel will begin approaching people. Habituation is dangerous for animals When animals stop seeing people as a threat, they can be unintentionally harmed by people.
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