Tolman's famous study demonstrated that latent learning occurs in rats. His study showed that rats left alone in a maze, even when not reinforced for their behavior, formed "cognitive maps" that allowed them to run the maze swiftly and accurately when reinforced with food. Humans, too, use a variety of cognitive maps to represent important environments, such as a school, a stadium, an airport, a freeway system, a parking lot, a shopping mall, and so on.
Instructions
In this assignment, you will create a cognitive map of your home.
1. From memory, you willdraw or design a floor plan of your home, using a drawing or desktop publishing program. Be sure to indicate where hallways, rooms, door, windows, and large pieces of furniture occur. Label any pertinent information. Pretend you are drawing this map for a person who has never been in your home before and is walking through your house in complete darkness. This is your cognitive map that you are going to lend to them to make it through without tripping and running into any walls or furniture.
2. Once you have finished your floor plan, walk through your home and compare your created map with the actual layout of your home.
3. Answer the reflection questions.
4. Submit the follow up questions and image of your floor plan to your instructor.
1. If your assignment is drawn, you may scan the document and save it as a .jpg. If you do not have a scanner, you may wish to use a digital camera or cell phone to take clear picture of the floor plan. Be sure to save the picture as a .jpg extension.
2. If you use a design program on your computer, be sure to save the floor plan in jpeg or pdf format.
Reflection Questions
Answer each question with a minimum of 2-3 sentences.
1. Was there any room left out of the floor plan? Why or why not?
2. Was there any large piece of furniture left out of the floor plan? Why or why not?
3. Did you include all windows and doors in your floor plan? Why or why not?
4. Where there any rooms or specific areas of your floor plan those are more detailed than other rooms/areas? Why or Why not?
5. Did you have any specific area of the house that you had difficulty remembering when you were drawing? Why or why not do you think that occurred?
6. Do you believe stranger could use your cognitive map to navigate your home without running into anything or tripping? Explain.
7. Give one specific example from your life where you use cognitive maps.
8. Give one specific example from your life where you have used latent learning.