AP PSYCHOLOGY

LEARNING

BIOLOGY COGNITION AND LEARNING

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Conducted experiments with rats and mazes to examine the role that reinforcement plays in the way that rats learn their way through complex mazes; led to idea of cognitive maps and latent learning.
A
Edward Tolman
B
Walter Mischel
C
Martin Seligman
D
Robert Rescorla
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -The idea that rats have a cognitive map of a maze is supported by the finding that rats: can navigate the maze even if they start from a novel position. René Descartes: believed in dualism.

Detailed explanation-2: -Edward Tolman was studying traditional trial-and-error learning when he realized that some of his research subjects (rats) actually knew more than their behavior initially indicated. In one of Tolman’s classic experiments, he observed the behavior of three groups of hungry rats that were learning to navigate mazes.

Detailed explanation-3: -What was the important finding of Tolman’s latent learning experiments in which rats learned to run a maze? Rats that began to receive reinforcement halfway through the experiment rapidly matched the performance of rats that had been reinforced from the beginning of the experiment.

Detailed explanation-4: -Tolman’s experiments with rats demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement (Tolman & Honzik, 1930; Tolman, Ritchie, & Kalish, 1946). Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response.

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