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Simplified learning in complex situations: knowledge partitioning in function learning.

Stephan Lewandowsky¹, Michael Kalish, S K Ngang

¹School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley. lewan@psy.uwa.edu.au

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General

|June 7, 2002

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People simplify complex learning by partitioning knowledge into separate, sometimes contradictory, pieces. This context-specific learning helps manage intricate functions, especially non-linear ones.

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Learning Science
Decision Making

Background:

Knowledge is often assumed to be integrated and consistent.
However, individuals may hold independent knowledge parcels that can contradict each other.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the phenomenon of knowledge partitioning.
To determine how contextual cues influence the learning and generalization of complex functions.

Main Methods:

Four experiments utilized a function learning paradigm.
A binary context variable was paired with a continuous stimulus variable representing a to-be-learned function.
Participants learned quadratic and linear functions under different contextual conditions.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

Generalization of learning was context-specific when context predicted the slope of a quadratic function.
Knowledge partitioning occurred with a decreasing linear function but not a linearly increasing function.
Context appears to gate the learning of simpler, partial functions.

Conclusions:

Individuals simplify complex learning tasks by acquiring independent parcels of knowledge.
Contextual variables play a crucial role in gating and partitioning learned information.
This partitioning strategy facilitates managing and simplifying complex functional relationships.