A cognitive map is a mental representation of a physical environment, functioning like a map inside your head. This internal model includes the spatial relationships between objects, locations, and pathways, helping you recall directions, plan routes, and recognize landmarks. These mental models are dynamic, updating as you acquire new information.
The Brain’s Internal GPS
The ability to form cognitive maps is seated within the hippocampus, a central hub for spatial memory and navigation. This region contains specialized neurons called place cells. Each place cell becomes active when you are in a specific location in your environment, acting like a “you are here” pin on your mental map.
Working in concert with place cells are grid cells, located in a nearby brain region called the entorhinal cortex. They become active at multiple locations, creating a hexagonal, grid-like pattern that covers the environment. This pattern provides a coordinate system, much like latitude and longitude lines, for measuring distances and calculating routes.
Together, these cell types form the brain’s internal navigation system. Grid cells provide the geometric framework, while place cells populate the map with specific locations. This neural machinery allows you to understand how different places relate to one another, enabling you to plan journeys and find your way.
Discovery of Cognitive Maps
The concept of a cognitive map was first introduced by psychologist Edward C. Tolman in the 1940s through a series of influential experiments with rats. At the time, the prevailing view in psychology was behaviorism, which suggested that learning was simply a matter of associating a specific stimulus with a particular response. For example, a rat in a maze was thought to learn a simple sequence of turns to get to a food reward.
Tolman’s work challenged this idea. In his experiments, he observed how rats navigated mazes to find food. If a familiar path was blocked, the rats did not give up but instead selected a new path that pointed toward the reward, even if they had never taken that specific route before.
This behavior demonstrated that the rats were not just learning a rigid sequence of turns. They had formed a “cognitive map” of the maze’s layout, which allowed them to be flexible, finding shortcuts and navigating around obstacles. Tolman’s research showed the rats processed information, proving a more complex cognitive process was at play.
Everyday Use of Cognitive Maps
You use cognitive maps constantly in daily life, often without conscious thought. When you navigate your home in the dark, you rely on a mental map of the layout of rooms and furniture. In a familiar grocery store, you likely know where the milk is relative to the bread without looking at aisle signs.
These internal representations also allow for more complex planning. Visualizing your commute to work and deciding on an alternate route to avoid a traffic jam is an exercise in using your cognitive map. Finding your car in a crowded parking lot is another common example, as you rely on a mental snapshot of where you parked.
Giving someone directions to your home from memory is a direct application of a cognitive map. You are accessing your stored spatial knowledge of the area and translating it into verbal instructions.
Mapping Beyond Physical Space
Recent neuroscience research suggests that the brain mechanisms for spatial navigation are also used to organize and understand abstract information. The same neural structures that map physical landscapes appear to help us map conceptual landscapes. This means we may use a similar process to understand relationships between ideas or social hierarchies.
This expanded view proposes that the brain’s “GPS” is not limited to geographic space. When you learn a new, complex subject, you build a mental model of how different concepts connect and relate. This allows you to make inferences and see connections that were not explicitly taught.
This principle may extend to how we understand social structures. We form mental maps of our relationships, understanding who is connected to whom and the nature of those connections. This allows us to navigate social situations effectively. The brain’s ability to create these maps is a way it organizes knowledge, structuring the world around us and the world of ideas.