Robert A. Rescorla

Robert A. Rescorla is a Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and co-creator of the Rescorla-Wagner model. Dr. Rescorla received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 and is primarily interested in elementary learning processes, particularly Pavlovian conditioning and instrumental learning.

Representative Publications

 * Rescorla, R.A. (1985) Conditioned Inhibition and Facilitation, in R.R. Miller & N.S. Spear (Eds.) Information Processing in Animals: Conditioned Inhibition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum


 * Colwill, R.M. & Rescorla, R.A. (1986) Associative structures in instrumental learning, in G.H. Bower (Ed.) The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 20, 55-104.


 * Rescorla, R.A. (1988) Pavlovian conditioning: It's not what you think it is. American Psychologist, 43, 151-160.


 * Rescorla, R.A. (1991) Associative relations in Instrumental learning: The eighteenth Bartlet Memorial Lecture. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43B, 1-23.


 * Rescorla, R.A. (1992) Hierarchical associative relations in Pavlovian conditioning and instrumental training. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 66-70.


 * Swartzentruber, D., and Rescorla, R. A. (1994) Modulation of trained and extinguished stimuli by facilitators and inhibitors. Animal Learning and Behavior, 22, 309-316.


 * Rescorla, R. A., and Coldwell, S. E. (1995) Summation in Autoshaping. Animal Learning and Behavior, 23, 314-326.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (1996) Spontaneous recovery after training with multiple outcomes. Animal Learning and Behavior, 24, 11-18.


 * Rescorla, R.A. (1997) Response-inhibition in extinction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 50B, 238-252.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (1998). Instrumental learning: Nature and Persistence. In M. Sabourin, F. I. M. Craig, & M. Roberts (Eds.), Proceedings of the XXVI International Congress of Psychology, Vol. 2. Advances in Psychological Science: Biological and Cognitive Aspects. (Pp. 239-258). London: Psychology Press.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (1999). Summation and overexpectation with qualitatively different outcomes. Animal Learning and Behavior, 27, 50-62.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2000). Associative changes in excitors and inhibitors differ when they are conditioned in compound. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 26, 428-438


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2001). Experimental Extinction, In R. R. Mowrer & S. Klein (Eds.) Handbook of contemporary learning theories. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 119-154.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2002). Savings Tests: Separating differences in rate of learning from differences in initial levels. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 28, 369-377.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2002). Comparison of the rates of associative change during acquisition and extinction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 28, 406-415.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2003). Contemporary study of Pavlovian conditioning. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 6, 185-195


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2004). Spontaneous Recovery. Learning and Memory, 11, 501-509.


 * Rescorla, R. A. (2005). Spontaneous recovery of excitation but not inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 31, 277-288.