DO ANIMALS HAVE COGNITIVE MAPS

Drawing on studies of humans, rodents, birds and arthropods, I show th at 'cognitive maps' have been used to describe a wide variety of spati al concepts. There are, however, two main definitions. One, sensu Tolm an, O'Keefe and Nadel, is that a cognitive map is a powerful memory of landmarks which allows novel short-cutting to occur. The other, sensu Gallistel, is that a cognitive map is any representation of space hel d by an animal. Other definitions with quite different meanings are al so summarised. I argue that no animal has been conclusively shown to h ave a cognitive map, sensu Tolman, O'Keefe and Nadel, because simpler explanations of the crucial novel short-cutting results are invariably possible. Owing to the repeated inability of experimenters to elimina te these simpler explanations over at least 15 years, and the confusio n caused by the numerous contradictory definitions of a cognitive map. I argue that the cognitive map is no longer a useful hypothesis for e lucidating the spatial behaviour of animals and that use of the term s hould be avoided.