Towards mouse models of perseveration: A heritable component in extinction of operant behavior in fourteen standard and recombinant inbred mouse lines

► We compared extinction of appetitive operant lever pressing across 14 mouse strains. ► Strength of extinction is not correlated with the acquisition of operant performance. ► Extinction has a heritable component, expressed by high inter-strain variability. ► C3H and BxD-27 can serve as models for cognitive flexibility. ► Perseverative lines NOD, BxD-16 and -42 may be used to model compulsive food-seeking.