What happens to responses that have been reinforced intermittently?

Responses that have been reinforced intermittently are associated with a greater resilience to extinction. This phenomenon is often rooted in the principles of operant conditioning, where behaviors that are reinforced on an intermittent schedule—meaning they are not rewarded after every occurrence—tend to establish a stronger connection between the behavior and the reinforcement.

When a behavior is reinforced on an intermittent basis, an individual may continue to engage in that behavior longer, even in the absence of reinforcement, because they have learned that the reinforcement is unpredictable. This unpredictability can create a sense of hope or expectation that the reinforcement will eventually occur, thus maintaining the behavior despite lower frequency of rewards. This is why responses reinforced intermittently take longer to extinguish than those that are reinforced consistently.