153 Associative processes build the structural-representational framework upon which cognitive processes of computation and inference can act. I review evidence I have collected showing how associative processes are involved in building spatial, tempo- ral, and causal maps. Evidence comes from studies on simple associative acquisition such as Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, higher-order conditioning proce- dures such as sensory preconditioning and conditioned inhibition, and from cue-com- petition studies. Parallels are drawn between acquisition and integration of informa- tion in conventional associative paradigms on the one hand and cognitive paradigms on the other. 1 Introduction One of the great psychological debates of the twentieth century involved an exchange be- tween Tolman and Guthrie. Tolman, originally a behaviorist himself, conducted experi- ments with rats that lead him to develop a nascent cognitive framework during the first half of the twentieth century—a period dominated by the S-R behaviorist ideology. He suggested that rats held expectations about impending events, rats could learn without explicit (i.e., food) reinforcement, and that rats formed cognitive maps while navigating a maze. Tolman was ridiculed by many of his colleagues for these heretical notions. Guthrie, one of behav- iorism’s chief proponents, even accused Tolman of “leaving the rat buried in thought” (Guthrie, 1935, p. 172). Tolman planted the seed, however, that led to the cognitive revolu- tion of the 1960s and 1970s. The cognitive framework finally found acceptance and hypoth- eses about mental states and cognitive processes in both humans and animals became com- monplace. Today, the cognitive framework is the dominant ideological stance, though currents of behaviorism still exist. This is not to say that one framework, such as the cogni- tive, provides a more accurate depiction than the other, such as behaviorism. Rather, both frameworks continue to have heuristic value, and the tension between them epitomizes the The Role of Associative Processes in Spatial, Temporal, and Causal Cognition Aaron P. Blaisdell University of California, Los Angeles, United States 9