The Structure of Learning

CHAPTER  12

Places, Paths, and Bearings

Tolman argued that the Skinner box and the straight-alley runway make animals look stupid because they give them only stupid things to do. He designed his experiments to show how intelligent they could be when psychologists give them intelligent things to do. Probably the most productive line of research that Tolman inspired began with the argument about just what a rat learns in a maze. His notion of cognitive maps that guide the behavior of human and nonhuman animals influenced theory and research throughout the 20th century. This chapter introduces modern studies of foraging and orientation that offer us more ethological and more intelligent alternatives to the traditional cognitive map.

PLACE LEARNING ...