Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response; it occurs without obvious reinforcement to be applied later. [1]
Latent learning is when an organism learns a new concept in its life, however, the knowledge is not immediately expressed. Instead, it remains dormant, and may not be available to consciousness, until specific events/experiences might need this knowledge to be demonstrated. For instance a child may observe a parent setting the table or tightening a screw, but does not act on this learning for a year; then he finds out later on that he knows how to do these.
In a classical experiment, Tolman and C.H. Honzik (1930) placed three groups of rats in mazes and observed their behavior each day for more than two weeks. The rats in Group 1 always found food at the end of the maze; the rats in Group 2 never found food; and the rats in Group 3 found no food for 10 days, but then received food on the eleventh. The Group 1 rats quickly learned to rush to the end of the maze to find their food; Group 2 rats did not learn to go to the end; Group 3 acted as the Group 2 rats until food was introduced on Day 11. Then they quickly learned to run to the end of the maze and did as well as the Group 1 rats by the next day.