[en] Solving problems that are perceptually dissimilar but require similar solutions is a key skill in everyday life. In adults, this ability, termed analogical transfer, draws on memories of relevant past experiences that partially overlap with the present task at hand. Thanks to this support from long-term memory, analogical transfer allows remarkable behavioral flexibility beyond immediate situations. However, little is known about the interaction between long-term memory and analogical transfer in development as, to date, they have been studied separately. Here, for the first time, effects of age and memory on analogical transfer were investigated in 2-4.5-olds in a simple tool-use setup. Children attempted to solve a puzzle box after training the correct solution on a different looking box, either right before the test or 24 h earlier. We found that children (N = 105) could transfer the solution regardless of the delay and a perceptual conflict introduced in the tool set. For children who failed to transfer (N = 54) and repeated the test without a perceptual conflict, the odds of success did not improve. Our findings suggest that training promoted the detection of functional similarities between boxes and, thereby, flexible transfer both in the short and the long term.
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
Bobrowicz, Katarzyna ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Mémoire et langage ; Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden ; Public Higher Medical Professional School, Opole, Poland ; Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Lindström, Felicia; Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Lindblom Lovén, Marcus; Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Psouni, Elia; Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Language :
English
Title :
Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay.
Publication date :
2020
Journal title :
Frontiers in Psychology
eISSN :
1664-1078
Publisher :
Frontiers Media S.A., ch. de la Pecholettaz 6, Epalinges, Switzerland
Materials devised in the study were financed by Stiftelsen Roy och Maj Franzéns fond, awarded to KB (grant no. RFv2018-0221). The study was partly financed by Lund University Department of Psychology Research Funding to EP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.We thank Johan Sahlstr?m, Klara Thorstensson, Therese Wikstr?m, Helena Kelber, and Brigitta Nagy for help with data collection. We thank Joost van der Weijer for his assistance with time-unit kappa, and we gratefully acknowledge Lund University Humanities Lab. Finally, we thank two reviewers for their helpful suggestions and guidance in improving this manuscript. Funding. Materials devised in the study were financed by Stiftelsen Roy och Maj Franz?ns fond, awarded to KB (grant no. RFv2018-0221). The study was partly financed by Lund University Department of Psychology Research Funding to EP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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