Extinction after partial reinforcement: predicted vs. judged persistence

The partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) (i.e., increased persistence following partial reward) is one of the most important generalizations from experimental studies of learning. Many theories of PREE assume that it involves cognitive and emotional mechanisms, but investigations of PREE have focused almost exclusively on behavioral measures. Four experiments with human adults investigated whether PREE is also reflected in cognitive measures. Independent groups of subjects learned an instrumental response under CRF vs. PRF contingencies, and then predicted (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and/or judged (Experiments 3 and 4) their own persistence under extinction conditions. Predictions of persistcnce were unrelated to prior continuous or partial reinforcement contingencies (Experiments 1, 2, and 3), but subsequent judgments of persistence behavior were accurate (Experiments 3 and 4). These results indicate that increased persistence due to occasional reward is not well represented cognitively prior to its behavioral manifestation, but it is well represented after that manifestation. Possible explanations and implications of this apparent behavior cognition dissociation are discussed.