medical Definition of cognitive map
: a representation formed in the mind of one's spatial environment
- Ms. Roseman cannot form cognitive maps—the brain's way of representing spatial relationships. She has no inner compass.
- —Michelle Coomber, The New York Times, 30 Apr. 2013
- The rats seem to develop a cognitive map, a mental representation of the maze.
- —David G. Myers, Psychology, 2001
