Consolidation of cognitive maps as a gradual process.

Abstract

Cognitive maps of the environment are initially encoded in a fragile form susceptible to interference, but they can stabilize over time-a process called "consolidation". This study investigated whether consolidation is a gradual or an all-or-none process. In the main condition, participants formed first a map of environment A, then a map of environment B, and then returned to A (sequence: A₁ -> B -> A₂). Performance increased from A₁ to A₂, but this increase was smaller than in a control condition where B was replaced by a pause filled with unrelated activities (sequence: A₁ -> pause -> A₂). Adding a pause after A₁ in the main condition (sequence: A₁ -> pause -> B -> A₂) had no substantiable effect on performance. In contrast, adding a replica of A₁ (sequence: A₁ -> A_R -> B -> A₂) improved performance so that it no longer differed significantly from the control condition. This pattern of findings is consistent with the view that (1) cognitive maps consolidate gradually rather than abruptly, and (2) consolidation proceeds during task learning but not during pauses filled with other activities.