Final answer:
Baby goslings follow the first large moving object they see due to a behavior known as imprinting, a crucial non-associative learning process for their survival.
Step-by-step explanation:
Lorenz discovered that baby goslings exhibit a behavior where they follow the first large moving object they see, which he termed imprinting. This is a type of non-associative learning, significant in the early stages of an animal's life, particularly for species such as ducks and geese. Imprinting occurs at a specific life stage, usually right after birth or hatching, and is characterized by the rapid development of attachment to the first moving object encountered, often the mother.
However, in the absence of the mother, ducklings can imprint on a human or even an inanimate object. This learning process is crucial for survival as it helps young animals to stay close to a protector and provider.
On the contrary, habituation is another form of learning in which an animal becomes accustomed to a repeated stimulus over time and gradually stops responding to it.
This does not involve forming an attachment but rather learning to ignore stimuli that are irrelevant or not harmful. As such, the correct answer to Lorenz's observations with baby goslings is 'a) Imprinting'.