Rapid-REM: A MATLAB simulator of the replaced-elements model

A recent proposal for an elemental account of associative learning phenomena is the replaced-elements model (REM) put forward by Wagner (2003). Although the ideas underlying this model are comparatively simple, implementation of the model is rather complex. In this article, we present Rapid-REM, a MATLAB simulator of Wagner’s model. Rapid-REM features a graphical user interface for manipulating all essential parameter values and for control of the simulation process, graphical visualization of the simulation course and the results, and the alternative possibility of simulating the replaced-elements model as it was originally proposed (Wagner & Brandon, 2001). Rapid-REM is available free of charge from www.staff.uni-marburg.de/≈lachnit/Rapid-REM/. This simulator makes it easy to derive predictions for REM and evaluate them, and it will therefore facilitate insights into the mechanisms of associative learning.

[1]  R. Rescorla,et al.  A theory of Pavlovian conditioning : Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement , 1972 .

[2]  N. Mackintosh A Theory of Attention: Variations in the Associability of Stimuli with Reinforcement , 1975 .

[3]  J. Pearce,et al.  A model for Pavlovian learning: variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli. , 1980, Psychological review.

[4]  M. Schlossberg Information Processing in Animals: Memory Mechanisms. , 1986 .

[5]  J. Pearce A model for stimulus generalization in Pavlovian conditioning. , 1987, Psychological review.

[6]  J. Pearce Similarity and discrimination: a selective review and a connectionist model. , 1994, Psychological review.

[7]  S. Klein,et al.  Handbook of contemporary learning theories , 2000 .

[8]  Edgar H Vogel,et al.  A componential view of configural cues in generalization and discrimination in Pavlovian conditioning , 2000, Behavioural Brain Research.

[9]  J. Pearce Evaluation and development of a connectionist theory of configural learning , 2002, Animal learning & behavior.

[10]  A. R. Wagner Context-Sensitive Elemental Theory , 2003, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[11]  S. Glautier Asymmetry of generalization decrement in causal learning , 2004, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[12]  E. Wagenmakers,et al.  A Model-Averaging Approach to Replication : The Case of p rep , 2009 .

[13]  Steven Glautier,et al.  Simulation of associative learning with the replaced elements model , 2007, Behavior research methods.

[14]  Klaus G. Melchers,et al.  Comparing elemental and configural associative theories in human causal learning: a case for attention. , 2008, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.