Latent learning is learning that takes place without any apparent reinforcement and is not immediately expressed in behavior but becomes evident when there is an incentive to demonstrate it. Edward Tolman's classic experiments with rats in mazes (Tolman and Honzik, 1930) provided the definitive demonstration: rats that explored a maze without food reward showed no improvement in maze running, but when food was introduced, they immediately performed as well as rats that had been rewarded all along — demonstrating that they had learned the maze layout during the unrewarded exploration.
Tolman's Contribution
Latent learning was central to Tolman's challenge of strict behaviorism. If learning occurred only through reinforcement (as Thorndike and Hull proposed), then unrewarded exploration should produce no learning. Tolman argued that rats formed "cognitive maps" — internal representations of the spatial layout — through exploration, independent of reinforcement. This distinction between learning (acquiring knowledge) and performance (displaying that knowledge) was a landmark cognitive contribution during the behaviorist era.
Tolman's concept of cognitive maps — internal spatial representations of the environment — anticipated discoveries in cognitive neuroscience by decades. John O'Keefe's discovery of place cells in the hippocampus (Nobel Prize, 2014) provided neural evidence for cognitive maps: hippocampal neurons fire when an animal is in specific locations, collectively forming a map-like representation of the environment. This neural cognitive map is updated during exploration regardless of reinforcement, consistent with Tolman's behavioral demonstrations of latent learning.
Modern Significance
Latent learning demonstrated that organisms actively process information about their environment even without explicit reinforcement — a key insight for cognitive psychology. It showed that internal representations (cognitive maps, expectations) mediate between stimuli and responses, that learning and performance are separable, and that reinforcement affects the expression of learning rather than learning itself. These insights remain foundational for understanding incidental learning, implicit knowledge acquisition, and the role of exploration in education.