Contingency violation in extinction learning

Abstract

In extinction learning, contextual renewal occurs when an extinguished behavior reemerges after a context change. A key question is how stimuli become integrated as contextual cues. While contingency, the predictive relationship between stimuli and outcomes; is known to be important, its precise contribution remains unclear. Using a ABA renewal design with pigeons in operant chambers, we systematically violated contingency by probabilistically reinforcing responses during extinction. Our results show that partial violations of contingency modulated extinction learning but did not abolish contextual renewal. Instead, pigeons developed meta-learning strategies, adapting their behavior across sessions to optimize reward despite extinction conditions. These findings highlight that context formation is sensitive to contingency levels, but also that animals can flexibly reorganize their learning strategies when contingency is unstable.