Latent Learning

In a classic experiment, rats that were always given food at the end of a maze made fewer and fewer errors in reaching the food (blue curve). In contrast, rats that received no food showed little improvement (gold curve). But rats that got no food for 10 days and then found food on the 11th day showed rapid improvement from then on (red curve). This result suggests that learning involves cognitive changes that can occur in the absence of reinforcement and that may not be acted on until a reinforcer becomes available (Tolman & Honzik, 1930).