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Do animals have cognitive maps?
journal contribution
posted on 1996-01-01, 00:00 authored by Andy BennettDrawing on studies of humans, rodents, birds and arthropods, I show that 'cognitive maps' have been used to describe a wide variety of spatial concepts. There are, however, two main definitions. One, sensu Tolman, O'Keefe and Nadel, is that a cognitive map is a powerful memory of landmarks which allows novel short-cutting to occur. The other, sensu Gallistel, is that a cognitive map is any representation of space held by an animal. Other definitions with quite different meanings are also summarised. I argue that no animal has been conclusively shown to have a cognitive map, sensu Tolman, O'Keefe and Nadel, because simpler explanations of the crucial novel short-cutting results are invariably possible. Owing to the repeated inability of experimenters to eliminate these simpler explanations over at least 15 years, and the confusion caused by the numerous contradictory definitions of a cognitive map. I argue that the cognitive map is no longer a useful hypothesis for elucidating the spatial behaviour of animals and that use of the term should be avoided.
History
Journal
Journal of experimental biologyVolume
199Issue
1Pagination
219 - 224Publisher
The Company of BiologistsLocation
Cambridge, EnglandISSN
0022-0949eISSN
1477-9145Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
1996, The Company of BiologistsUsage metrics
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