Abstract
Rats were trained to find an invisible platform in a Morris water maze. One group was preexposed to the landmarks that subsequently defined the location of the platform while the control group was preexposed to the apparatus, without landmarks. Preexposed rats showed a retarded learning when swimming to the platform. These results provide little support for the notion of a cognitive map and are consistent with an associative analysis. Key words: Swimming-pool Navigation Task; Cognitive Map; Latent Inhibition; Associative Processes; Attentional Theory