User:Ridingj1/sandbox

History[ edit]
The idea of a cognitive map was first developed by Edward C. Tolman. Tolman, one of the early cognitive psychologists, introduced this idea when doing an experiment involving rats and mazes. In Tolman's experiment, a rat was placed in a cross shaped maze and allowed to explore it. After this initial exploration, the rat was placed at one arm of the cross and food was placed at the next arm to the immediate right. The rat was conditioned to this layout and learned to turn right at the intersection in order to get to the food. When placed at different arms of the cross maze however, the rat still went in the correct direction to obtain the food because of the initial cognitive map it had created of the maze. Rather than just deciding to turn right at the intersection no matter what, the rat was able to determine the correct way to the food no matter where in the maze it was placed. Unfortuantley further research was slowed due to the behavioristic point of view prevalent in psychological fields at the time. In later years John O'Keefe and Lynn Nadel attributed Tolman’s research to the hippocampus, stating that it was the key to the rats mental representation of its surroundings. This furthered research in this area and consequently hippocampus activity is explained through cognitive map making.

Parallel Map Theory

use this reference

See also[ edit]

 * Cognitive geography - Emphasis on Geography and perception of space and environment.
 * Fuzzy cognitive map - Emphasis between concepts and actual events. Establishes importance between the two.
 * Motion perception - Emphasis on speed and direction processing in present form.
 * Repertory grid - A tool used to calculate personality.