"Special issue on Scientific Histories of Hippocampal Research: Part 2"
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1002/(ISSN)1098-1063.scientific-histories-part2
Starring:
Our paper on the poor replicability of Tolman, Richie & Kalish, 1946 - the famous "Sunburst maze" - is out!
Last author @rmgrieves made a very nice thread about it here:
https://fediscience.org/@rmgrieves/115844897663215766
The article: Tolman's Sunburst Maze 80 Years on: A Meta-Analysis Reveals Poor Replicability and Little Evidence for Shortcutting
I'll just add that this doesn't at all question the #CognitiveMap theory, which is quite strongly supported by diverse lines of evidence - but it shows that one of the elements previously used to support the theory, the ability to choose a shortcut over unexplored space, is not that clearly demonstrated!
Importantly, this also shows that it is crucial to consider papers in their context and to make sure results are consistently replicable before changing them into scientific facts!
PS: I managed to attract Roddy to Mastodon - it would be great to show him we can get at least as much interaction on here as with his similar thread on Bluesky
#SpatialCognition #Neuroscience #Shortcutting #Tolman #Sunburst #ReplicabilityCrisis
Can humans and animals really use internal maps to navigate and take shortcuts?
Tolman famously argued "yes" - based largely on his Sunburst maze experiment.
However, our new review & meta-analysis suggests the evidence is far weaker than you might think.
🧵👇 https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70365
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#neuroESC #navigation #neuroscience #neuroethology #SpatialCognition #AnimalBehaviour #shortcutting #cognitivemap #tolman
Last follow-up on Tolman's Sunburst maze experiment: anyone out there tried to replicate it but didn't publish the results (with or without success)? If so, I will want to ask you about it!
Following-up on this, I have asked the following question on #NeuroMethods without success:
Anyone knows of any (published or not, successful or not) replication attempts of the #Tolman Sunburst maze "shortcut" task, in mice?
I'm also interested in info on any kind of unpublished replication attempt, in any species...
Which journal would you recommend to publish a review on the topic of #CognitiveMaps?
Criteria: non-profit, open access, good reputation
#ScientificJournals #OpenAccess #Neuroscience #Psychology #CognitiveMap
"Human intelligence relates to neural measures of cognitive map formation"
New study assesses human ability to encode and store relational representations of object-location associations in the hippocampus and relate this ability to intelligence (g).
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.28.630614v2?ct=
Seen on LinkedIn from the Royal Institute of Navigation - anyone interested in proposing or contributing to a session?
"
Call for Session Topics - Animal Navigation Conference 2026 [15/04/2026 to 17/04/2026 in Egham, Surrey, UK]
Animal navigation is a fascinating, variable, magic and broad field so we want to make sure ANC26 covers the wide variety of areas and disciplines representing this field.
🐜 'cognitive map debate' in insect navigation
🧠 Neurobiology of mammalian navigation
🧭 Physics behind animal navigation
What can you, or your colleagues, present on?
If you would like to submit a proposal for a session, the deadline is fast approaching: 15th July 2025
Learn more: https://rin.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1806468&group=
The #Tolman "sunburst maze" results (from 1946) are often used to demonstrate shortcut ability in rats... but do they really? More on this later!
For now, would you know of any #ComputationalModels that were tested in this protocol (whether they replicate the original results or not)? We know of a few (well... 4) but would like to make sure we are not missing any.
#BehaviouralNeuroscience #SpatialCognition #Shortcuts #CognitiveMap #Neuroscience (kind of)
El Duvelle Neuro
Roddy Grieves
El Duvelle
Elias MB Rau