Simulations, theory, and experiments. Notes from an Historical Perspective

This paper aims at presenting the methodological approach to simulations, proposed at the beginning of the sixties by a group of scholars of the Carnegie Mellon University. This approach can be defined cognitive and behavioural, because of the attention to real perception and decision-making and to the role assigned to learning processes. One of the main points of departure is constituted by the wish to relay on more realistic assumptions, as a condition for better an understanding and forecast of the reality. Simulations are seen as the most important, even if not unique, way to model the resulting complexity.