system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5: How do our brains shut out familiar sounds from waking us up such as a spouse getting ready for work or their alarm?
gpt
In neurobiology and psychology, this is called habituation, which is caused by desensitization of neurons to a stimuli. It is an evolutionary adaptation where our bodies realize that some stimuli aren't dangerous. We would simply be overwhelmed if our bodies reacted to everything. So our bodies block out unimportant stimuli so that we can better pick out signals that indicate something worth paying attention to. Dishabituation is the process when the original stimulus is noticed again, and can be caused when the stimulus is stronger, unexpected, etc. Habituation applies to all senses, not just for what we hear.