Final answer:
The theory of the blank slate mind is challenged by maze learning, demonstrating that rats can develop cognitive maps; the development of artificial intelligence, which could emulate human-like behavior; and animal "bloopers" that show inherent cognitive processing abilities beyond mere learned experiences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of the blank slate mind suggests that humans are born without built-in mental content and that knowledge comes only from experience and perception. However, this idea is inconsistent with several observed phenomena.
Maze learning in rats, as conducted in experiments by H.C. Blodgett in the 1920s, indicates that animals can form cognitive maps and are not simply conditioned. The rats were able to navigate a maze to receive a food reward, showing that they could learn and retain information beyond mere stimulus-response patterns. This suggests that even non-human animals have a mental capacity to learn and store spatial information, challenging the blank slate theory.
When discussing the future of robotic artificial intelligence, the debate on whether humans and sophisticated A.I. could exhibit similar behaviors and emotions comes into play. If A.I. reaches the point where it acts indistinguishably from humans, it may imply that the mind can be replicated or emulated by physical systems, contradicting the notion of a blank slate by showing that complex 'mental' activity can emerge from a programmed entity.
Lastly, animal "bloopers" demonstrate that animals can engage in unexpected or unintended behaviors, which suggests a level of cognitive processing that isn't entirely accounted for by a blank slate. Animals learning from their mistakes, or behaving in novel ways, demonstrates that they possess intrinsic abilities or predispositions that are not fully shaped by external experiences alone.