Final answer:
The process where exposure to a stimulus results in a decreased response is called habituation. It is a simple form of non-associative learning without any reward or punishment associated with the stimulus. Extinction, by contrast, involves weakening of a conditioned response when the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are no longer paired.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding is called habituation. This is one form of learning where an individual learns to become less responsive to a stimulus after being exposed to it for a while. It often involves acclimating to stimuli that may initially be annoying or frightening but are deemed non-threatening. Habituation is considered a simple and fundamental type of non-associative learning, meaning the response diminishes over time without any particular outcome, such as punishment or reward, being associated with the stimulus. For example, prairie dogs may stop sounding an alarm when they become used to the harmless sound of human footsteps after a period of time. Extinction, on the other hand, occurs when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented without the unconditioned stimulus (US) and over time, the conditioned response (CR) to the CS weakens and eventually disappears. This decrease in the conditioned response is due to the disconnect between the CS and the US that originally produced the CR.