Abstract
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.
Highlights
IntroductionAs early as in toddlerhood, humans learn how tools allow for reaching goals that would otherwise be out of reach
The present study focuses on the interaction between analogical transfer, tool use and long-term memory in development
We investigated the development of flexible tool-dependent problem solving in children 2- to 4-years old, focusing on tool use and analogical transfer across immediate and delayed situations
Summary
As early as in toddlerhood, humans learn how tools allow for reaching goals that would otherwise be out of reach This learning involves transferring solutions between problems, which, in turn, requires both an ability to identify those aspects of the problem that are relevant for the solution, and remember a solution long enough to be able to apply it again. In the first year of life, infants rapidly acquire knowledge about objects and interactions, both through own actions and through observing others (Leslie, 1984; Luo et al, 2009) In this process, perceptual features of the tool are linked to the effect that it exerts, that is, to the function it Flexibility in Problem Solving serves (Bates et al, 1980). This allows the infant to, by the end of the first year, shift from attending to overall perceptual similarity to attending to functional similarity when faced with unfamiliar objects, as long as the common function is demonstrated beforehand (Träuble and Pauen, 2007)
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