Abstract: Wynne’s minimal model is a theoretical model based on the study of transitive inference in animals. He posits that individual can do transitive inference by representing sequence information with the reinforcement value of stimuli, and comparing the differences among the presented stimuli’s reinforcement values. The authors consider the model as the most parsimonious model to account for transitive inference problems, because research literatures demonstrate that the minimal model can account for the most of standard effects coming from transitive inference researches in humans and other animals. However, the model’s tendency of reductionism, interpreting higher cognitive activities in humans with mechanical learning ways in animals, deserves being discussed. And whether the transitive behavior the model discussed is the “true transitive inference” needs to be validated

Key words: transitive inference, minimal model, reinforcement, configural stimulus