What is the 'Habituation Paradigm'?

It is a method used for investigating the ability of infants to discriminate between stimuli by measuring preferential looking times. Repeated exposure to a stimulus in the habituation phase is followed by the presentation of a new stimulus in the test phase. If infants are indeed able to discriminate, looking time should be greater for the novel stimulus. This paradigm can improve experimental design validity for example in Baillargeon’s 1985 study on object permanence and can also provide a point of comparison for test trials, like in Kelly’s 2007 study on the Other Race Effect. However, when presented with negative results, it is unclear whether equal looking times are due to infants’ inability to differentiate or because the stimuli are equally interesting. Also, preference for a familiar stimulus may be affecting the results.