Which statement about babies and automatization is implied by the material?

• A. Babies are less conscious than adults during learning.
• B. Babies habituate to everything instantly, reducing consciousness.
• C. Babies may be more conscious because they are habituated to nothing.
• D. Habituation makes adults more conscious during tasks.

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how habituation affects conscious attention during learning. Automatization means that with practice a task becomes routine and requires less conscious effort. Babies, however, have little prior experience and encounter most stimuli as new. Because they haven’t habituated to many things yet, their attention stays high and they process new information more consciously. So the statement that babies may be more conscious because they are habituated to nothing fits this pattern: novelty keeps awareness elevated, while habituation reduces conscious processing as tasks become automatic.

The other options don’t fit with this view. If babies were less conscious during learning, that would contradict the typical heightened attention babies show to new stimuli. If babies habituate to everything instantly, learning would be less conscious, which isn’t supported by how infants often actively explore. If habituation made adults more conscious during tasks, that would oppose the general idea that habituation reduces conscious effort, not increases it.