Utilization deficiencies and transfer of strategies in preschoolers

Abstract

Three studies examined whether strategy utilization deficiencies emerge during transfer to two tasks that differ superficially from the main task but have the same underlying structural logic. In Experiment 1, children aged 4, 4½, and 5 spontaneously produced selective attention strategies (or were prompted to do so) on a selective memory task. Although children of all ages transferred this strategy, recall declined on the transfer tasks, a pattern indicating a “transfer utilization deficiency.” This pattern appeared whether children were initially strategic or became strategic after prompts. Individual and trial-by-trial analyses showed asynchronies between changes in strategic behavior and recall (e.g., increased strategy production but decreased recall), which indicate a utilization deficiency. Experiment 2 demonstrated this pattern in spontaneously strategic 4-year-olds, and, by systematically varying task order, eliminated the possibility that transfer tasks were simply more difficult. Experiment 3 eliminated the role of boredom or fatigue for spontaneously strategic 4- and 5-year-olds. Transfer tasks may generate uncertainty about whether and how to apply a strategy, leading to resource-demanding self-monitoring and thus utilization deficiencies.