Analogical Transfer Research Articles

Irreversible Inhibition of DNMT3A by an N-Mustard Analog of S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine.

DNA methylation, an important epigenetic modification, is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases and is essential in the regulation of gene expression. Here, the utility of an N-mustard analog designed to mimic the native methyl donor, S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM), was explored with the DNA methyltransferase 3A catalytic domain (DNMT3AC). In lieu of the expected analog transfer to DNA, methyltransferase activity was instead inhibited in a concentration dependent manner. Further investigation into the mechanism of analog inhibition did not reveal a typical competitive mechanism. Instead, mass spectrometry analysis provided direct evidence of two cysteine residues in the SAM binding site covalently modified by the SAM analog and confirmed its' function as an irreversible inhibitor of DNMT3AC.

Navigating the spectrum of human-robot collaboration: Addressing robophobia-robophilia in the hospitality industry

Analyzing human-robot collaboration, this study draws on insights from cognitive science and psychology, with a particular focus on developing strategies for instructing robots and addressing the dynamics of robophobia and robophilia. Robophilia signifies the evolving, positive human-robot relationship, emphasizing the attribution of personhood to robots, while robophobia represents fear of robots. Although hospitality studies have explored anthropomorphism in robots, there is a gap in understanding robophobia impact in this context. This research investigates the transition from robophilia to robophobia and its implications for human-robot interactions in hospitality. Past studies primarily emphasized positive aspects, like anthropomorphism and robot personhood neglecting potential negatives such as robophobia. Guided by analogical transfer theory, fear acquisition theory, and uncanny valley theory using three experimental studies, this research explore factors driving this transition, its impact on embarrassment, customer outrage, and employee sabotage intentions during joint robot interactions. This research enriches our understanding of complex human-robot dynamics, shedding light on robophobia's mediating role within the context of service disruptions.

Changes in semantic memory structure support successful problem-solving and analogical transfer

Creative problem-solving is central in daily life, yet its underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Restructuring (i.e., reorganization of problem-related representations) is considered one problem-solving mechanism and may lead to an abstract problem-related representation facilitating the solving of analogous problems. Here, we used network science methodology to estimate participants’ semantic memory networks (SemNets) before and after attempting to solve a riddle. Restructuring was quantified as the difference in SemNets metrics between pre- and post-solving phases. Our results provide initial evidence that problem-related SemNets restructuring may be associated with the successful solving of the riddle and, subsequently, an analogous one. Solution-relevant concepts and semantically remote concepts became more strongly related in solvers. Only changes in semantically remote concepts were instrumental in actively solving the riddle while changes in solution-relevant concepts may reflect a pre-exposure to the solution.

Q-learning model of insight problem solving and the effects of learning traits on creativity.

Despite the fact that insight is a crucial component of creative thought, the means by which it is cultivated remain unknown. The effects of learning traits on insight, specifically, has not been the subject of investigation in pertinent research. This study quantitatively examines the effects of individual differences in learning traits estimated using a Q-learning model within the reinforcement learning framework and evaluates their effects on insight problem solving in two tasks, the 8-coin and 9-dot problems, which fall under the umbrella term "spatial insight problems." Although the learning characteristics of the two problems were different, the results showed that there was a transfer of learning between them. In particular, performance on the insight tasks improved with increasing experience. Moreover, loss-taking, as opposed to loss aversion, had a significant effect on performance in both tasks, depending on the amount of experience one had. It is hypothesized that loss acceptance facilitates analogical transfer between the two tasks and improves performance. In addition, this is one of the few studies that attempted to analyze insight problems using a computational approach. This approach allows the identification of the underlying learning parameters for insight problem solving.

Effects of Feedback Interventions on Letter-String Problem Solving by Analogical Transfer

This paper explored the effects of different feedback manipulations on letter-string problem solving by analogical transfer. Specifically, the present studies assessed the effects of the type of feedback (first experiment); long exposure to feedback (second experiment) and the number of feedback problems during the practice phase (experiment 3). Participants were college undergraduate students who voluntarily received and answered printed letter string problems. Results showed that correct answer feedback has a significant positive effect on deep structure problem solving; they also showed that problem solution occurs much faster and evolves in a more straightforward manner with this type of feedback. Results also showed a direct relationship between the number of problems with correct answer feedback during the training phase, and the number of correct answers during the testing trial. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of using within-subject experimental designs in both the feedback interventions and analogical transfer literatures.

Case-based prediction – A survey

This paper clarifies the relation between case-based prediction and analogical transfer. Case-based prediction consists in predicting the outcome associated with a new case directly from its comparison with a set of cases retrieved from a case base, by relying solely on a structured memory and some similarity measures. Analogical transfer is a cognitive process that allows to derive some new information about a target situation by applying a plausible inference principle, according to which if two situations are similar with respect to some criteria, then it is plausible that they are also similar with respect to other criteria. Case-based prediction algorithms are known to apply analogical transfer to make predictions, but the existing approaches are diverse, and developing a unified theory of case-based prediction remains a challenge. In this paper, we show that a common principle underlying case-based prediction methods is that they interpret the plausible inference as a transfer of similarity knowledge from a situation space to an outcome space. Among all potential outcomes, the predicted outcome is the one that optimizes this transfer, i.e., that makes the similarities in the outcome space most compatible with the observed similarities in the situation space. Based on this observation, a systematic analysis of the different theories of case-based prediction is presented, where the approaches are distinguished according to the type of knowledge used to measure the compatibility between the two sets of similarity relations.

Promoting spontaneous analogical transfer by idealizing target representations.

Recent results demonstrate that inducing an abstract representation of target analogs at retrieval time aids access to analogous situations with mismatching surface features (i.e., the late abstraction principle). A limitation of current implementations of this principle is that they either require the external provision of target-specific information or demand very high intellectual effort. Experiment 1 demonstrated that constructing an idealized situation model of a target problem increases the rate of correct solutions compared with constructing either concrete simulations or no simulations. Experiment 2 confirmed that these results were based on an advantage for accessing the base analog, and not merely an advantage of idealized simulations for understanding the target problem in its own terms. This target idealization strategy has broader applicability than prior interventions based on the late abstraction principle because it can be achieved by a greater proportion of participants and without the need to receive target-specific information. We present a computational model, SampComp, that predicts successful retrieval of a stored situation to understand a target based on the overlap of a random, but potentially biased, sample of features from each. SampComp is able to account for the relative benefits of base and target idealization, and their interaction.

Maintaining the Magic: Adapting Practice Pedagogies Across Course Modalities

ABSTRACT Social work programs are facing the need to gain further clarity about how to leverage instructional strategies specific to the course modality (i.e., traditional, hybrid, online hybrid, and fully online). At its heart, this challenge is an analogical transfer problem: practice instructors must adapt what they do in one modality to new modalities through modifying how they guide students to master learning objectives. In doing so, instructors can maintain the essence of what makes a practice course work. The discussion is subsequently shaped around common modalities that programs offer (1) traditional courses; (2) hybrid courses (in-person/online); (3) online hybrid courses (synchronous/asynchronous online); and (4) fully asynchronous online courses. This paper presents an organizing framework that explains pedagogical choices by structures (i.e., space, time, and people) and processes (i.e., interactivity). It then provides examples of how practice instructors can navigate the unique strengths and limitations that simultaneously facilitate and constrain interactions between students and instructors, their peers, and the instructional content. As instructors grapple with the inevitable shifts within the academy, they require specific tools to help them generalize existing skills. The proposed framework is an important first step to help shape and evaluate best practices across and within modalities.

From One Language to the Next: Applications of Analogical Transfer for Programming Education

The 1980s and 1990s saw a robust connection between computer science education and cognitive psychology as researchers worked to understand how students learn to program. More recently, academic disciplines such as science and engineering have begun drawing on cognitive psychology research and theories of learning to create instructional materials and teacher professional development materials based on theories of learning, to some success. In this paper, we follow a similar approach by highlighting common areas of interest between computer science education and cognitive psychology–specifically theories of analogical transfer–and discuss how cross-pollination of theoretical constructs between disciplines can support research on the teaching and learning of multiple programming languages. We will also discuss areas where computing education research can adapt the existing theories from cognitive psychology to develop domain-specific theories of knowledge transfer in computing and feed back into cognitive psychology research to inform larger debates about the nature of cognition and learning.

Creative problem solving in knowledge-rich contexts.

Creative problem solving (CPS) in real-world contexts often relies on reorganization of existing knowledge to serve new, problem-relevant functions. However, classic creativity paradigms that minimize knowledge content are generally used to investigate creativity, including CPS. We argue that CPS research should expand consideration of knowledge-rich problem contexts, both in novices and experts within specific domains. In particular, paradigms focusing on creative analogical transfer of knowledge may reflect CPS skills that are applicable to real-world problem solving. Such paradigms have begun to provide process-level insights into cognitive and neural characteristics of knowledge-rich CPS and point to multiple avenues for fruitfully expanding inquiry into the role of crystalized knowledge in creativity.

Metacognitive awareness is needed for analogical transfer between dissimilar tasks

ABSTRACT In two experiments, we investigated a cross-task transfer of implicit knowledge between two dissimilar tasks requiring manual motor activity. In the first experiment, participants were aware of the relevance of their experience in one task for the solution of the other. In this condition, we observed transfer. In the second experiment, the participants did not know about the relationships between the two tasks, and the transfer did not occur. Concurrent verbalisation was harmful in the first experiment but helped participants in the second experiment. We conclude that one has to be metacognitively aware that one has a relevant representation to allow for its transfer between two dissimilar tasks. We discuss the obtained results within recent theories of analogous transfer from different research domains, such as problem-solving, implicit learning, and motor control.

Low-Pass NGD Numerical Function and STM32 MCU Emulation Test

This article introduces an original microcontroller unit (MCU) design of numerical low-pass (LP) negative group delay (NGD) function. The innovative theory of the numerical LP-NGD function is developed based on the first-order analog transfer function discretization. The infinite impulse response (IIR) LP-NGD is fundamentally formulated in function of the desired NGD value, cutoff frequency, gain, and the MCU sampling frequency. A STM32 MCU proof-of-concept (POC) is tested to implement the IIR LP-NGD function. Different real-time tests with visualization of input and output analog signals from the MCU LP-NGD POC were performed. As expected, time-advance demonstration tests with milli-second short- and several hour long-duration time-scale with arbitrary waveform signals from temperature and humidity sensors. The signal time-advance is not in contradiction with the causality. The proposed digital MCU function opens a potential future industrial application of LP-NGD function via sensored signal anticipation.

High‐Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Left Frontopolar Cortex Promotes Analogical Reasoning

ABSTRACTThe objective of this study was to measure the contribution of the left frontopolar cortex (FPC) to analogical reasoning. Our measure of analogical reasoning derives from performance on the radiation problem, a creative problem‐solving task first used in Gestalt psychology (Duncker, 1945). Success on this task is as low as 10 % without the presentation of explicit cues that guide inference toward the solution (Gick & Holyoak, 1980). We assessed whether high‐definition transcranial direct current stimulation of the left FPC would promote the analogical transfer of the radiation problem. We found that anodal stimulation primed analogical transfer and led to improved task performance compared to the cathode and sham control groups. Results from this study offer evidence favoring the hypothesis that stimulating the left FPC facilitates analogical problem‐solving.

Cognitive Skills of Employees from the Pharmaceutical Field

Over time, the specialised literature had an increased interest regarding the study of intelligence, cognitive abilities, and about the way these two abilities correlate amongst them. A sample of 63 pharmacists, aged between 25 and 45 years old, from Constanta County, was assessed with the cognitive skills tests from Cognitrom Assessment System (CAS++). Our study aimed at (1) identifying the level of cognitive skills that employees in the pharmaceutical field have; (2) identifying differences according to age in terms of cognitive abilities; and (3) identifying the relationships between cognitive abilities. One set of hypotheses assumed relationships between inductive analytical reasoning and analogical transfer, and between vocabulary and analogical transfer. Another set of hypotheses assumed the existence of differences between young pharmacists and adult pharmacists regarding analogical verbal transfer, decision-making capacity, inductive analytical reasoning, syntax, and vocabulary-synonyms. Results confirmed the correlational hypotheses and the difference regarding the vocabulary-synonyms variable but infirmed all the other hypotheses. Results are discussed in the context of the importance of cognitive skills for the pharmaceutical field, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic context.

Generalizing solutions across functionally similar problems correlates with world knowledge and working memory in 2.5- to 4.5-year-olds

Analogical transfer, denoting the ability to use an action that solved a given problem in order to successfully handle a seemingly different but functionally similar problem, requires well-developed self-regulation, as it draws on previous knowledge and demands selecting and shifting between relevant features while ignoring irrelevant ones. Thus, analogical transfer involves executive functions (EFs), yet the contribution of specific EFs is unclear, particularly during the development of the capacity before the age of 5. Here, for the first time, we investigated the contribution of world knowledge, working memory and set-shifting in 2.5- to 4.5-year-olds’ (N = 86) capacity for single-event analogical transfer in a simple, non-verbal, tool-use task. Analogical transfer was independent of age but was predicted by a measure of world knowledge and a measure of working memory across the age-span tested. Our results suggest that world knowledge and working memory underscore analogical transfer early in development.

Playing on patterns: is it a case of analogical transfer?

Playing on patterns: is it a case of analogical transfer?

Gerda Walther and the Possibility of Telepathy as an Act of Personal Social Mind

The phenomenologist Gerda Walther posits the possibility of a new social act, which she terms telepathy. It is marked by an intimate in-terpersonal union in which ego and alter ego become capable of sharing in the identical lived experience, though distant from one another. Here, there is no fusion or collective identi􀏔ication; rather, in-dividuals, though they live the experience and mind of the other, never lose or transcend their own individuation. Unlike the act of empathy, there is no analogical transfer. This article defends the possibility of a restricted sense telepathy. The author argues that four conditions must be ful􀏔illed for telepathy to occur: recognition of a social drive; a partially willed act of mind that results in the assump-tion of a certain stance, but it also comes upon us as an experience; constitution of subjects as persons marked by a “fundamental es-sence”; and I-splitting.

Forgetting of competing solutions as a consequence of analogical problem-solving attempts

ABSTRACT Three experiments used a paradigm based on Retrieval-Induced Forgetting research to test for the competition from non-useful sources of information in cross-domain analogical transfer. This was accomplished by presenting people with texts introducing multiple candidate solutions prior to attempting the Radiation problem, and later testing memory for the texts. In Experiment 1, viable and unviable candidate solutions that varied in surface and structural similarity were presented in their own story contexts. In Experiments 2 and 3, the viable and unviable solutions were embedded within the same story context. The results suggest that forgetting unviable solutions that share surface-level overlap with the target problem may be less important than suggested by prior work. Instead, greater evidence of forgetting was obtained when unviable solutions were embedded within the same context as viable solutions. These findings suggest that competition from superficially similar, unviable solutions may not be the main obstacle during analogical problem-solving attempts, but rather the main obstacle for transfer may be the selection of relevant solution concepts.

QEOSA: Testing a Pedagogical Model of Creative Problem Solving for Preschool Children

ABSTRACT Transfer, particularly far transfer through analogic mapping and reasoning, is considered one of the mechanisms for creative problem solving. However, the cognitive paradigm of training for analogical problem solving has not met with much success. It is argued by these authors that a pedagogical model that exclusively focuses on training for analogical mapping is not effective. In this study, an alternative pedagogical approach, QEOSA, standing for Question, Explore, Optimize, Show, and Act, was tested on analogical transfer of problem solving with preschool children. This pedagogical model was informed by the creativity research with respect to creative problem solving as soft constraint satisfaction, involving both divergent and convergent processes. A randomly assigned experiment with 221 preschool children was conducted using QEOSA for 4 months (one semester). The results provide evidence of effectiveness of QEOSA in promoting far transfer. Theoretical and practical implications of the study for building an effective pedagogy of creative problem solving are discussed.

Preventing inert knowledge: Category status promotes spontaneous structure-based retrieval of prior knowledge.

Analogical comparison of 2 provided cases promotes spontaneous analogical transfer by encouraging a more abstract representation of a target principle. This is widely understood as a process of schema abstraction that aids retrieval from memory in the absence of superficial similarity. The category status hypothesis states that if knowledge about a target principle is represented as a relational category, it is easier to activate as a result of categorizing (as opposed to cue-based reminding). To investigate these 2 pathways to spontaneous transfer (schema retrieval vs. categorization), participants were assigned to different study conditions: (a) standard comparison of 2 analogs; (b) standard comparison followed by a second comparison of 2 new analogs; or (c) a guided Category-building task based on a foundation of sequential summarization with additional categorization supports. Experiment 1 showed improved spontaneous transfer in the Category-building task relative to Single-comparison-the gold standard for encouraging spontaneous transfer. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the Category-building task led to more frequent spontaneous structure-based retrieval than either comparison-based task. This suggests that the transfer improvements observed in Experiment 1 are attributable to the Category-building task making superficially dissimilar prior knowledge more accessible. Experiments 3a and 3b tested alternative explanations of this finding and provided evidence that the effectiveness of the Category-building task arises from encouraging the construal of a target principle as a relational category. These findings support categorization as a critical factor in explaining successful spontaneous analogical retrieval and toward instructional approaches that promote portable rather than inert knowledge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).