What term describes the persistence of a behavior despite the absence of reinforcement?

The term that best describes the persistence of a behavior despite the absence of reinforcement is PREE, which stands for Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect. This phenomenon occurs when a behavior that has been intermittently reinforced continues to be exhibited even when reinforcement is no longer provided.

When a behavior is reinforced only some of the time, rather than every time (which is known as continuous reinforcement), it tends to become more resistant to extinction. In other words, the history of reinforcement, even if it was partial, allows the behavior to persist longer in the absence of reinforcement. This is why individuals and animals often continue to engage in a behavior even when they are no longer being rewarded for it.

The other terms do not relate specifically to this concept. For example, an escape/avoidance response refers to behaviors aimed at avoiding an unpleasant situation, while discrimination involves the ability to distinguish between different stimuli. Overshadowing is a learning principle referring to one stimulus overshadowing another in the learning process. Understanding PREE helps trainers anticipate and manage persistent behaviors during training.