Analogical transfer in the THOG task

Abstract

The influences of surface and structural similarity on analogical transfer were examined with 318 undergraduate participants in four experiments using Needham and Amado's (1995) Pythagoras THOG problem as the source problem and Wason's standard abstract THOG task as the target problem. In Experiments 1-3, systematic changes in surface similarity between the source and target problems were introduced by changing the named exemplar, the dimensional values, and the dimensions, respectively, in the target problem. Significant transfer was obtained in all three experiments. In Experiment 4, we explored the basis of this transfer by examining three versions of the Pythagoras THOG problem, factorially combining its facilitating features as source problems. Results indicated that the inclusion of a hypothesis generation request was necessary for significant transfer. The implications of our findings for using transfer versus facilitation as the performance criterion for deductive reasoning are considered.

Using dual-process theory and analogical transfer to explain facilitation on a hypothetico-deductive reasoning task

“…Their explanation of the improved performance relies on what Evans (2003) refers to as System 2 reasoning-deliberate consideration of the logical structure of the problem. If this explanation is correct, then participants should be able to demonstrate their understanding of the problem by exhibiting analogical transfer like that seen in studies examining the Pythagoras THOG (Needham and Amado, 1995;Koenig and Griggs, 2004a) and the Blackboard THOG (Koenig and Griggs, 2004b). In contrast, Griggs et al (1998) argue that the facilitation is due to an attentional heuristic and, therefore, relies on what Evans refers to as System 1 reasoning-a lower level automatic perceptual process that is driven by surface characteristics of the problem.…”

“…If this instruction produced System 2 processing, performance should be significantly improved on the Standard THOG problem. Further, in previous work on the THOG problem (Koenig & Griggs, 2004a;b), we have used this instruction for all problem conditions and differences in performance are accounted for by differences in other problem features.…”

“…Koenig and Griggs (2004a) have proposed that for analogical transfer to occur two conditions must be met:…”

“…Koenig and Griggs (2004a) noted that correct performance on the standard abstract version of the task averages only 12% and ranges between 0 and 29% if no significant changes in task demands (e.g., Girotto & Legrenzi, 1993) or problem structure (e.g., Griggs & Newstead, 1982) have been made.…”