A cognitive map is defined as a visual representation of a person's mental model for a given process, concept, or area (Gibbons). They often refer to the representation of a space in the brain of an animal which is known as a spatial cognitive map. These maps can be beneficial in navigating a space without external environmental cues, such as light. For example, this is what allows us to avoid objects when walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night without turning the lights on. However, scientists have begun to explore the benefits of cognitive maps outside of spatial awareness. Specifically, they have started to evaluate its benefit on social interaction and the ability to make inferences about different social networks.
In the presentation given by Dr. William Yost based on the paper titled Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition by Tom Hartley et al., he spoke about cognitive spatial maps and how they allow us to understand where we are in an environment even in the absence of external cues. He compares these maps in the brain to the physical maps of cities and how we are able to understand where we are in the environment based on the map. He further explained this concept by showing rats exploring an elevated maze while attached to a multi-electrode array in the hippocampus and a GPS. As the rat explores the environment, action potentials in the brain occur which are recorded by the multi-electrode array and appear on the monitor. This neuronal firing is then color coded to show which neuron in the hippocampus is firing. At the end of the exploration period it can be seen that the same neuron fires in a specific area and other neurons in other areas of the environment. This allows for the creation of a spatial cognitive map that describes the space and contributes to learning as the mouse completes this task multiple times. This is significant because it allows the mouse to better understand its surroundings and complete the maze more efficiently each time due to the mental representation and memory formation via the spatial cognitive map.
While spatial cognitive maps have been researched for many years, more recently scientists have begun to explore the connection between cognitive maps and how people understand social networks. In the paper titled Cognitive maps of social features enable flexible inference in social networks by Jae-Young Son, Apoorva Bhandari, and Oriel FeldmanHall, they explore the idea that cognitive maps play a role in how people represent themselves and think about relationships within their social network. In the third study they conducted, they looked at the possibility that feature-based cognitive maps may act as the dominant mechanism for how people learn social networks (Son et al.). They used 194 participants who were presented with a network containing 14 edges and 8 nodes and asked to determine if two network members were friends. The hypothesis explains that if the participants showed flexible use of features to infer friendships, then it is likely that people build and use cognitive maps of social features. The author's show that there is a strong connection between cognitive maps and how people represent and reason about relationships within a social network (Son, et al.). Additionally, the paper shows people have the ability to build and use feature maps, along with previously learned social cues, to infer about unobserved friendships within a social network. These results are significant because it shows that there is use of cognitive maps in how people understand the relationships around them, even if they are unaware of the dynamic between people.
While these papers differ in their subject type and objective, they show that cognitive maps can be beneficial in our understanding of not only an environment, but also the inner workings of social networks and how people are connected to each other. This is significant because it shows that cognitive maps can be used in social learning and contribute to how we understand outside social networks. Continuing to explore the uses of cognitive maps, whether it be spatially or socially, may help scientists better understand a variety of learning processes, what tasks cognitive map use is beneficial for, and perhaps act as a foundation for new technology.
Sources:
Gibbons, Sarah. “Cognitive Maps, Mind Maps, and Concept Maps: Definitions.” Nielsen Norman Group, 14 July 2019, www.nngroup.com/articles/cognitive-mind-concept/#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20cognitive%20map%20is,between%20them%20are%20visually%20represented.
Hartley, Tom et al. “Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences vol. 369,1635 20120510. 23 Dec. 2013, doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0510
Son, Jae-Young, et al. “Cognitive Maps of Social Features Enable Flexible Inference in Social Networks.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 Sept. 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8488581/.
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