THE WIDESPREAD INFLUENCE OF THE RESCORLA-WAGNER MODEL

The theory of Pavlovian conditioning presented by Robert Rescorla and Allan Wagner in 1972 (the Rescorla-Wagner model) has been enormously i mportant in animal learning research. It also has been applied in a va riety of areas other than animal learning. We summarize the contributi on of the Rescorla-Wagner model to research in verbal learning, social psychology, human category learning, human judgments of correlational relationships, transitive inference, color aftereffects, and physiolo gical regulation. We conclude that there have been few models in exper imental psychology as influential as the Rescorla-Wagner model.