What Have Computational Models Ever Done for Us?

Abstract

The last 50 years have seen the progressive refinement of our understanding of the mechanisms of classical conditioning and this has resulted in the development of several influential theories that are able to explain with considerable precision a wide variety of experimental findings, and to make non-intuitive predictions that have been confirmed. This success has spurred the development of increasingly sophisticated models that encompass more complex phenomena. In such context, it is widely acknowledged that computational modeling plays a fundamental part. In this paper the authors analyze critically the role that computational models, as simulators and as psychological models by proxy, have played in this enterprise.