What does the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect (PREE) describe?

• A. Persistence with which some animals will continue to respond despite never being reinforced (PREE)
• B. Learning that things have been learned using a variable schedule of reinforcement.
• C. Rapid extinction after continuous reinforcement.
• D. Stimulus generalization across contexts.

Answer: (A)

Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect describes how a behavior that was reinforced only part of the time during training tends to be more resistant to extinction later than a behavior that was reinforced every time. In other words, after reinforcement stops, the previously partial-reinforced behavior continues longer before it drops off. This happens because the learner has learned that reinforcement is not guaranteed and continues to respond in the hope that a reinforcement might occur on a future trial. It’s not about general learning under a variable schedule in itself, it’s about how the history of intermittent reinforcement makes the extinction phase slower. The effect is observed across species and tasks, illustrating how reinforcement history shapes later behavior.