TEACHING THE RESCORLA-WAGNER MODEL USING STELLA-II

Although the Rescorla-Wagner model is widely taught in learning course s, most textbooks present a simplified version that does not contain a ll of its parameters. On the basis of Rescorla and Wagner (1972) and t he Turbo PASCAL program by Lachnit, Schneider, Lipp, and Kimmel (1988) , we created a simulation using STELLA-II, an icon-based program by Hi gh Performance Systems, Inc. We argue that this simulation facilitates teaching the complete Rescorla-Wagner model. Using trans-switching (K immel & Ray, 1978; Lachnit, 1986; Murrin & Kimmel, 1986) as an example , we demonstrate the effectiveness of the STELLA-II version of the Res corla-Wagner model as a heuristic tool.