Allan R. Wagner is an American experimental psychologist and learning theorist, whose work has focused upon the basic determinants of associative learning and habituation. He is the co-author of the influential Rescorla-Wagner model

Rescorla-Wagner model

The Rescorla–Wagner model is a model of classical conditioning in which the animal is theorized to learn from the discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. This is a trial-level model in which each stimulus is either present or not present at some point in the trial...

 of Pavlovian conditioning (1972) as well as the standard operating procedures or "sometimes opponent process" (SOP) theory of associative learning (1981), the Affective Extension of SOP (AESOP, 1989) and the Replaced Elements Model (REM) of configural representation (2001, 2008). His research has involved extensive study of the conditioned eyeblink response of the rabbit, of which he was one of the initial investigators (1964). His scientific contributions have been recognized by his receipt of the Howard Crosby Warren Medal of the Society of Experimental Psychologists

Society of Experimental Psychologists

The Society of Experimental Psychologists , originally called the Society of Experimentalists, is an academic society for experimental psychologists. It was founded by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1904 to be an ongoing workshop in which members could visit labs, study apparatus, and hear and...

 (1991), the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association

The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...

 (1999), the W. Horsley Gantt Medal of the Pavlovian Society http://www.pavlovian.org/(2009), and election to membership in the National Academy of Sciences (1999). He received his Ph D. from the University of Iowa in 1959, under Kenneth W. Spence, and has been on the faculty of Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 since that time, serving as Chair of the Department of Psychology from 1983-1989, Chair of the Department of Philosophy from 1991-1993, and Director of the Division of the Social Sciences from 1992-1998. He is currently the James Rowland Angell

James Rowland Angell

James Rowland Angell was an American psychologist and educator. He served as the president of Yale University between 1921 and 1937...

Professor of Psychology.

Selected publications

• Logan, F.A., & Wagner, A.R. (1965). Reward and punishment. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• Wagner, A.R., Logan, F.A., Haberlandt, K., & Price, T. (1968). Stimulus selection in animal discrimination learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 171-180.
• Wagner, A.R. (1969). Frustrative nonreward: A variety of punishment. In B.A. Campbell & R.M. Church (eds.), Punishment and aversive behavior (pp.157- 181). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
• Wagner, A.R. (1969). Stimulus selection and a "modified continuity theory." In G.H. Bower & J.T. Spence (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation Vol. 3 (pp. 1-41). New York: Academic Press.
• Wagner, A.R., & Rescorla, R.A. (1972). Inhibition in Pavlovian conditioning: Application of a theory. In R.A. Boakes & M.S. Halliday (Eds.), Inhibition and learning (pp. 301-336). London: Academic Press.
• Rescorla, R.A., & Wagner, A.R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In A.H. Black & W.F. Prokasy (Eds.), Classical conditioning II: Current theory and research (pp. 64-99). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
• Wagner, A.R. (1978). Expectancies and the priming of STM. In S.H. Hulse, H. Fowler, & W.K. Honig (Eds.), Cognitive processes in animal behavior (pp. 177-209). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Wagner, A.R. (1981). SOP: A model of automatic memory processing in animal behavior. In N.E. Spear & R.R. Miller (Eds.), Information processing in animals: Memory mechanisms (pp. 5-47). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Wagner, A.R., & Brandon, S.E. (1989). Evolution of a structured connectionist model of Pavlovian conditioning (ÆSOP). In S.B. Klein and R.R. Mowrer (Eds.), Contemporary learning theories: Pavlovian conditioning and the status of traditional learning theories. (pp. 149-189). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Wagner, A. R., & Donegan, N. (1989). Some relationships between a computational model (SOP) and an essential neural circuit for Pavlovian (rabbit eyeblink) conditioning. In R. D. Hawkins and G. H. Bower (Eds.), Computational models of learning in simple neural systems: The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 23. (pp. 157-203). New York: Academic Press.
• Wagner, A.R., & Brandon, S.E., (2001) A componential theory of Pavlovian Conditioning. In R.R. Mowrer and S.B. Klien (Eds.) Handbook of Contemporary Learning Theories (pp. 23-64) Mahwah, NJ. Erlbaum.
• Wagner, A.R. (2008). Evolution of an elemental theory of Pavlovian conditioning. Learning and Behavior. 36, 253-265.
• Wagner, A.R.., & Vogel, E. H. (2010) Associative modultion of US processing: Implications for understanding of habituation. In N. Schmajuk (Ed.) Computational models of associative learning. pp.150-185, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

External links

• Allan R. Wagner webpage at Yale