The American psychologist Edward Chace Tolman was a forerunner of modern cognitive psychology; he showed that animals in learning mazes acquire organized spatial and temporal information about the maze and about the consequences of various alternative behaviors. In developing this approach, he was combating the dominant views of his time, which emphasized the acquisition of conditioned reflexes rather than knowledge about environmental events. Although several short biographies or reviews of Tolman's contributions are available (Crutchfield, 1961; Crutchfield et al., 1960; Hilgard, 1980; Innes, 1999, 2000; McFarland, 1993; Ritchie, 1964; Tolman, 1952), it is especially appropriate that one be included in an encyclopedia of learning and memory because workers in this field today are using ideas that were initiated and often developed by Tolman, although they do not necessarily recognize the source. Tolman's concepts and findings have helped to shape modern understanding of learning, memory, and cognition.

Edward C. Tolman (Psychology...