Effects of frequency of feedback on transfer in concept identification

Two experiments were performed to investigate the effects of frequency of feedback on immediate- and delayed-transfer tasks in concept identification. In the first experiment, subjects were required to learn new concepts from the same category for the transfer tasks, whereas in the second experiment the transfer tasks involved concepts from a different category. Among the major findings was that although lowering the percentage of feedback trials slows concept attainment, it facilitated transfer on all transfer tasks. In general, the fewer the number of feedback trials subjects received, the greater the amount of transfer. The results are consistent with other studies that suggest that conditions that make it more difficult for subjects to initially learn a task may have positive benefits for transfer.