Promoting interdomain analogical transfer: When creating a problem helps to solve a problem.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Analogical thinking aids problem-solving by retrieving past experiences.
• Enhancing abstract encoding of base analogs improves retrieval of similar situations.
• Facilitating transfer at retrieval time is crucial for accessing distant analogs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate methods for enhancing analogical transfer at retrieval time.
• To determine if comparing target problems aids in retrieving dissimilar analogs.
• To assess if constructing analogous problems at retrieval improves analog retrieval.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Replicated target-comparison procedure, adding a nonanalogous comparison condition.
• Experiment 2: Assessed the effect of constructing a second analogous target problem at retrieval.
• Measured the association between schema quality and analog retrieval probability.

Main Results:

• Comparing two analogous targets improved analogical transfer compared to standard conditions.
• Comparing nonanalogous problems did not enhance transfer.
• Constructing an analogous target problem at retrieval increased the retrieval of distant analogs.

Conclusions:

• Comparing analogous targets and constructing them at retrieval are effective strategies for enhancing analogical transfer.
• The quality of generated schemas correlates with the successful retrieval of distant base analogs.
• These findings offer portable methods for improving abstract reasoning and problem-solving skills.