Habituation and tonic immobility in domestic chickens.

The habituation of tonic immobility in chickens was examined in six studies. It was shown that repeated elicitation of immobility, and not just handling, was responsible for reduced response durations after multiple exposures to manual restraint. Habituation was a function of the number of stimulus presentations and, in addition, proved surprisingly durable, with diminished reactions using lasting at least 2.5 mo. Strain differences were found in the number of trials required to reach a criteria of habituation, and habituation proceeded faster when immobility termination was self-paced as opposed to experimenter induced. Also, massed trials produced robust sensitization effects rather than diminished responsiveness.