Mary's physician is trying to test her visual perception.She shows six-month old Mary a picture of a boat until Mary no longer pays any attention to it.Then she shows Mary a picture of a house and immediately Mary begins to stare at the picture in entranced curiosity.Mary's physician was using the _______________ to test her visual perception.
A)habituation technique
B)longitudinal technique
C)attention-span technique
D)novelty technique

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The habituation technique involves repeatedly presenting a stimulus until the individual loses interest in it. Then, a new stimulus is presented to see if the individual shows renewed interest. This technique is commonly used to test perceptual abilities in infants and young children, as it allows researchers to determine what types of stimuli infants can discriminate from each other. In this case, Mary's physician presented a picture of a boat until Mary no longer paid any attention to it (habituated), and then presented a new picture of a house to see if Mary would show renewed interest in a different stimulus. This approach is known as the habituation-dishabituation paradigm.

Mary's Physician Is Trying to Test Her Visual Perception