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Related Experiment Videos

Priming, analogy, and awareness in complex reasoning

C D Schunn1, K Dunbar

  • 1Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. schunn+@cmu.edu

Memory & Cognition
|May 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

Priming, an implicit process, influences problem-solving by making prior knowledge accessible. Even without conscious analogy, solving one complex task can enhance performance on another through this priming mechanism.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Problem-Solving Research

Background:

  • Understanding how knowledge transfer occurs between distinct complex tasks is crucial.
  • Previous research suggests analogy is a key mechanism, but implicit influences are less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if knowledge from one complex task can spontaneously influence performance on a different task.
  • To test the hypothesis that priming, an implicit process, facilitates this knowledge transfer even without explicit analogical reasoning.

Main Methods:

  • Subjects completed a simulated biochemistry problem (Day 1) and a molecular genetics problem (Day 2).
  • Experimental groups received a biochemistry problem solved via inhibition; control groups did not.
  • The molecular genetics problem on Day 2 universally involved inhibition.

Main Results:

  • Experimental groups were significantly more likely to solve the Day 2 problem correctly.
  • Subjects in experimental conditions were more prone to propose inhibition, and did so earlier.
  • No explicit reference to the Day 1 problem was made by experimental subjects, indicating implicit transfer.

Conclusions:

  • The study demonstrates that priming can implicitly transfer knowledge between complex problem-solving domains.
  • This implicit priming mechanism enhances performance without conscious awareness of the connection.
  • Cognitive priming plays a significant role in making existing knowledge available for novel problem-solving.

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