cognitive map

noun

1. Psychology.,  a mental picture of one's physical or spatial environment.

cognitive map

noun

1. psychol a mental map of one's environment

Other Word Forms

• cognitive mapping noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cognitive map¹

First recorded in 1948; first used by behavioral psychologist Edward C. Tolman

Example Sentences

The first step was allowing the rats to create a baseline cognitive map of this virtual environment.

Read more on Scientific American

John O’Keefe shared The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience in 2014 for discovering that neurons in the hippocampus encode an animal’s location and create a cognitive map for navigation.

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Neurons in the hippocampus called “place” cells selectively respond to being in specific locations, forming a cognitive map of the environment.

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Tolman—a proponent of that school—coined the term: the cognitive map.

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“If you don’t have a cognitive map, a representation in the mind of how you are going to achieve it, then there is no way to sustain your goal.”

Read more on The Guardian