Editing Cognitive map (section)

== History ==
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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=E. Bruce |title=Cognitive psychology: connecting mind, research, and everyday experience |date=2011 |publisher=[[Wadsworth Cengage Learning]] |isbn=9780840033550 |edition=3rd |location=Belmont, CA |pages=11–12 |oclc=658234658}}</ref>

Unfortunately, further research was slowed due to the behaviorist point of view prevalent in the field of psychology at the time.<ref>{{Citation |last=Glickman |first=Stephen E. |title=A century of psychology as science |date=1992 |pages=738–782 |editor-last=Koch |editor-first=Sigmund |chapter=Some thoughts on the evolution of comparative psychology. |chapter-url=http://content.apa.org/books/10117-048 |publisher=American Psychological Association |language=en |doi=10.1037/10117-048 |isbn=978-1-55798-171-4 |access-date=2020-03-18 |editor2-last=Leary |editor2-first=David E.}}</ref> In later years, O'Keefe and Nadel attributed Tolman's research to the hippocampus, stating that it was the key to the rat's mental representation of its surroundings. This observation furthered research in this area and consequently much of hippocampus activity is explained through cognitive map making.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nadel |first=Lynn |url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323245.001.0001/acprof-9780195323245-chapter-1 |title=The Hippocampus and Context Revisited |date=2008-03-20 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-986926-8 |language=en-US |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323245.001.0001}}</ref>

As time went on, the cognitive map was researched in other prospective fields that found it useful, therefore leading to broader and differentiating definitions and applications. {{cn|date=March 2025}}