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Testing an idea (2 of 3)

Image Caption

Tolman and his colleagues trained rats in a maze which offered them many different tunnels to enter first. One of the tunnels twisted and turned but consistently led to the reward, and the rats quickly learned to go down that tunnel.

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Image of many pathways but only one goes to cheese. Caption says "First the rates learn to follow the tunnel that leads to the reward."

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This image is part of a series:

Drawing of a mouse imagining the pathway through a maze to cheese

Testing an idea (1 of 3)

Psychologist Edward Tolman wanted to know how rats successfully navigate their surroundings - for example, a maze containing a hidden reward. Would they build mental maps of the maze as…

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A maze for rats has many dead end paths and only one that leads to cheese. A dotted line leads to a dead end. Caption says, "When the tunnel to the reward is blocked the rats follow their mental map and choose the tunnel that leads in the direction where they know the reward to be."

Testing an idea (3 of 3)

When the entrance to the reward tunnel was blocked, most of the rats picked a tunnel that led in the direction of the food, supporting the idea that rats navigate…

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