Tolman's Maze

Tolman’s Maze refers to a famous psychological experiment conducted by Edward Tolman in the 1930s. He showed that rats could learn the layout of a maze not just by trial-and-error but through mental mapping. Instead of just forming habits, the rats developed an internal representation of the maze's structure, which they used to navigate efficiently, even when their usual paths were blocked. This experiment demonstrated that animals can have cognitive maps—a mental understanding of their environment—challenging traditional views that behavior is solely driven by simple stimulus-response habits.