Who experimented with rats to demonstrate that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement?

Edward Tolman

Explanation:

Tolman's experiment on rats showed that reinforcement is not a necessary tool for learning. In his experiment, he set up a maze for 3 groups of rats where the rats had to figure its way out of it. One group was given a reward immediately, the other was not given one, the last group was given an award after a few trials.

The experiment showed that although the rats who were not given food immediately took a longer time to finish the maze initially, they were able to get out of the maze. When they were finally given food at the end, they were able to get out of the maze even faster than the rats that were given food immediately.

This shows that information processing is an active process triggered by more than reinforcement. It depends on attitude, the conditions they are given, and beliefs.