ALTSim: A MATLAB simulator for current associative learning theories

ALTSim is a MATLAB-based simulator of several associative learning models, including Pearce’s configural model, the extended configural model, the Rescorla-Wagner model, the unique cue hypothesis, the modified unique cue hypothesis, the replaced elements model, and Harris’s elemental model. It allows for specifying all relevant parameters, as well as exact stimulus sequences by graphical user interfaces. It is an easy-to-use tool that facilitates evaluating and comparing the featured associative learning models. ALTSim is available free of charge from www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~lachnit/ALTSim/.

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

[2]  Anna Thorwart,et al.  Rapid-REM: A MATLAB simulator of the replaced-elements model , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[3]  Similarity and Discrimination Learning , 1995 .

[4]  Harald Lachnit,et al.  Similarity and discrimination in human Pavlovian conditioning. , 2003, Psychophysiology.

[5]  Justin A. Harris,et al.  Elemental Representations of Stimuli in Associative Learning , 2022 .

[6]  Anna Thorwart,et al.  Reduced summation with common features in causal judgments. , 2010, Experimental psychology.

[7]  Klaus G. Melchers,et al.  Stimulus coding in human associative learning: Flexible representations of parts and wholes , 2008, Behavioural Processes.

[8]  J. Pearce.  Similarity and Discrimination: A Selective Review and a Connectionist Model , 1994 .

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

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

[11]  A. R. Wagner,et al.  Negative patterning in classical conditioning: Summation of response tendencies to isolable and configurai components , 1972 .

[12]  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.

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

[14]  Anna Thorwart,et al.  HMS: A MATLAB simulator of the Harris model of associative learning , 2008, Behavior research methods.