HABITUATION: The Science of "Get Used to It"

Hello Steemians, good to have you stop by again. I was feeling a bit nostalgic today. As I reminisced, one image struck me.

Studying wasn't always easy, back then in the university. The all day and late night reading - sometimes all night - that left you drowsy most mornings. For the music lovers, it could be a lot more fun listening to your favorite artiste or jam while studying. But it could become a problem, when you spend 1 hour of your 2 hours study time singing along, right? A lot of persons can relate to this.
I love music and nothing makes my studying more fun than an accompanying music. But I had the "sing-along" thing too. It was more occuring with headphones than it was with speakers at a distance though. Then it occurred to me, that when a particular music on my playlist was on repeat, I totally forgot it's playing - after it has repeated maybe twice. Although I still enjoyed the repeating jam somehow. Finally, there was a solution to the "sing-along" thing. A lot of persons must have had similar experience and tag it regular. Yeah, it is regular, but there is a science behind this - a phenomenon called Habituation.

What in the world is Habituation?

[License: Public Domain]: Pixabay

Habituation is an extensive reduction in response to a constantly recurring stimulus which is not due to motor fatigue or the adaptation of sensory receptors. Experts have asserted that "habituation usually refers to a reduction in innate behaviours, rather than behaviours acquired during conditioning".

Habituation is considered a form of non-associative learning. It is the science behind the training of war horses, that they never leave their riders in the heat of war.
According to Wikipedia;

"Non-associative learning is a change in a response to a stimulus that does not involve associating the presented stimulus with another stimulus or event such as a reward or punishment."

If you could remember the first time you crossed a busy street, as a kid. Can you imagine how you must have reacted? Astonished by the colorful cars speeding by? Or jolted by the din of city traffic? Now, How would you react to the same condition?
Due to constant exposure to busy traffic and its noise, there is reduced or no response by the response system.

Habituation as a learning process aids due discrimination of the biological relevance of stimuli by an individual.

"It allows people to tune out non-essential stimuli and focus on the things that really demand attention".

Growing up, I spent most of my time in a drug store. At first, the strong smell of certain drugs made me sick. This one time, I accompanied a sick friend to the school clinic. He was badly repulsed by the overwhelming smell of drugs, that he ran out retching. I could barely tell if they had any smell at all; I was habituated to the smell of drugs.
There are a lot of stimuli one can get habituated to; the fragrance of one's regular cologne, loud noises, same meal ( perhaps on a diet). It is a long list, but there are factors that affect the rate and amount of response or habituation by an individual. These factors are:
1.Duration of exposure to stimuli: If after an individual is habituated to a stimulus, the stimulus is withdrawn for a long time, an original response is elicited if stimulus is reintroduced. "...the response will once again reappear at full-strength, a phenomenon known as spontaneous recovery". I stopped spending time at the drugstore. A long while along the line, I found it had to take pills.

2.Frequency of exposure: The more recurring a stimulus, the more rapidly habituation will take place.

3.Intensity of stimuli: Habituation happens a lot more slowly, with intense stimuli. That's why we hardly ever get habituated to fire alarms.

Habituation in Daily Life

[License: Public Domain]: Pixabay

Reports from experts have shown that

"the memory for habituation can be short term, lasting minutes to hours, or long term, lasting days. The neural mechanisms underlying habituation are of clinical interest. For example, long-term habituation is deliberately induced in therapeutic procedures used to treat chronic anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. In part because these conditions may involve an impaired ability to habituate to stressful stimuli, studies have begun using effects on habituation as a screening test for developing and comparing anxiolytic drugs."

There has also been researches made on the relevance of habituation processes in cognitive function.

In the "real world" habituation finds a lot of other application in our daily interactions and relationships. Though habituation is the reason, you lose interest in a video game after a first play, it is also the reason you are more relaxed when jumped by virtual opponents. The reason you are not so much excited weeks or months after you get that new gadget, job, or got in a new relationship.

[License: Public Domain]: Pixabay

Relationships are so beautiful at the start, when the passion and exuberance is fresh. The persons involved are excited because of the "new things" - new feelings.

"As we grow to know people better, it is only naturally that we stop noticing every little thing and become increasingly habituated to both their good and bad qualities. You might grow accustomed to habits that you initially found irritating, or even become increasingly annoyed by things that you overlooked initially".

Though habituation could seem ugly, after a period of being together; it seems as though the partners are losing their touch with each other. This could pose a problem in long term relationships. The challenges can be checked by "being grateful, remembering how it felt at the start and being spontaneous."

Closing Thought

Habituation aside being a learning process, is yet an important natural phenomenon occurring in our daily lives. It helps us to discern the relevance of the things that hustle for our attention every minute, on a daily basis. As a result, we are able to tell which are important, and concentrate our attention better. Like the saying "pay attention to the signals, not the noises."
Thanks for stopping by!

You could check out the REFERENCES below for more information on habituation.

Habituation from Wikipedia.org

Understanding Habituation in Psychology- Verywell Mind

Habituation - an overview from sciencedirect.com

Habituation mechanisms and their importance for cognitive function

Habituation - The "Get Used to It" Concept - explorable.com

Image Sources
Images are from pixabay all licensed under creative commons and eligible for commercial use