Final answer:
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning where an individual learns to ignore benign, repeated stimuli, to conserve energy for more important tasks.
Step-by-step explanation:
Habituation is a simple form of learning in which an animal, including humans, stops responding to a repeated stimulus that is neither harmful nor beneficial. This non-associative learning allows animals and humans to conserve energy and attention for tasks that are more biologically relevant. For example, a dog might initially bark at the sound of a doorbell but, through repeated exposure without any associated threat or reward, may stop responding to it. This process is exemplified by prairie dogs which cease to sound an alarm call at the sound of frequent, non-threatening human footsteps, while still responding to potential predators. Habituation is useful for animals to ignore stimuli that will not harm them and is one of the ways living creatures learn to adapt to their environment.