Problem solving in the rat: Piecemeal acquisition of cognitive maps

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to compare the problem-solving performance of rats allowed to explore either one or two tables of Maier's three-table-problem apparatus on successive days. The feeding experience and test trial were administered on the day after all tables and runways had been explored in this piecemeal fashion. No rat that explored only one table and runway per day was able to solve the problem, whereas 60% of the rats that explored two tables and their interconnecting runways did solve the problem. All rats that explored the entire apparatus on each exploratory day were able to solve the problem. These data support the notion that animals can conceptually link objects experienced successively into cognitive representations which specify the constant relationships existing between those objects. The existence of such an absolute spatial mechanism makes it unnecessary for an organism to depend upon relative spatial mechanisms such as routes or cues. © 1984 Psychonomic Society, Inc.