Habituation
- Animals must respond to changes in their external and internal environments in order to survive
- Changes in the environment, or stimuli (singular stimulus) are detected by specialised receptor cells
- Receptor cells send signals via either the nervous system or the hormonal system to the body's co-ordination centres in the brain or spinal cord
- Signals are then sent on to the parts of the body which respond, known as the effectors
- The process of detecting and responding to stimuli requires energy, so it is important that animals don't waste energy responding to non-threatening stimuli
- Animals need to conserve energy for essential processes that increase their survival chances
- If a stimulus is repeated many times with no negative outcome, then an animal will learn not to respond to it; this process is known as habituation
- An animal that doesn't respond to a stimulus is said to be habituated to that stimulus
- Examples of habituation include
- Humans no longer noticing a new smell or sound after a period of exposure
- Wild animals losing their fear of humans after regular non-harmful contact
- Animals learning not to be alarmed by the presence of non-predatory species
- If a stimulus to which an animal has become habituated changes, then the nervous system will respond to it again
- E.g. a constant low-level sound that suddenly becomes louder
The process of habituation
- Animals become habituated due to changes in the transmission of nerve impulses from one neurone to the next
- Nerve impulses are transmitted across synapses by the diffusion of chemical neurotransmitters
- Neurotransmitters are released at the presynaptic membrane in response to an influx of calcium ions
- When habituation has taken place fewer calcium ions move into the presynaptic neurone on arrival of a nerve impulse
- As a result, less neurotransmitter is released and an action potential is less likely to be generated in the postsynaptic neurone
- Fewer molecules of neurotransmitter bind to receptors on the postsynaptic membrane
- Fewer sodium ion channels open
- Fewer sodium ions move into the axon and the charge inside the axon remains negative
- Threshold potential is not reached
- The nerve impulse therefore does not reach the effector organ and the animal does not respond to the stimulus