Helen always drives down Sheridan Avenue to go to the college campus. One morning Helen discovers that Sheridan Avenue is closed at 23rd Street because of flooding. Helen immediately takes a different route to the campus. How would psychologist Edward Tolman explain Helen's behavior?

Psychologist Edward Tolman would explain Helen's behavior by saying that she has formed a cognitive map of the area in her head already.

Explanation:

Once an area becomes known and familiar through constantly coming in acquaintance with, the brain tends to remember the faces of the multiple sides that the area has. This process of remembering the area spontaneously happens through cognitive mapping of the area that our brain does on its own knowingly and unknowingly.